‘TINKERING with ambulance response targets could lead to unnecessary deaths,’ the GMB union, which represents ambulance drivers, warned yesterday.
The union added that the government’s NHS White Paper ‘gives rise to serious concerns over control of the ambulance service’.
The GMB reacted to reports that Professor Matthew Cooke is going to propose that the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition should change ambulance response targets, which have been credited with saving the lives of 2,000 heart attack patients each year since their introduction in 2001.
There are concerns that these changes are the thin end of the wedge which could lead to a deterioration of the service if the proposals for NHS reorganisation in England, set out in a White Paper by the government, are also implemented.
‘The White Paper proposals will result in GPs being put in charge of budgets and could lead to NHS Ambulance Trusts being starved of the resources they need to meet performance targets to deliver a decent service to patients,’ the GMB warned yesterday.
The ambulance workers union published a new analysis, which shows that five NHS Ambulance Trusts in England and Wales did not meet performance targets, while eight did so.
The figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are not yet available.
GMB National Coordinator Justin Bowden said: ‘GMB members who work in the service have problems with the targets, but they would be very worried with any attempts at wholesale removal of the targets.
‘When members are called out what they often find at the scene differs greatly from what was reported to ambulance controllers.
‘Before the current targets are dismantled there needs to be a consensus as to what the elements should be in a clinically driven system that is practical in what is a life and death service.
‘We all need to remember that the eight minute target has been credited with saving the lives of almost 20,000 heart attack victims since it was introduced in 2001.
‘These threatened changes in response times targets come on top of the total gamble contained in the proposals in the White Paper to turn on its head the management of the NHS in England.
‘Meddling politicians need to realise the ambulance service is about saving lives.
‘The only way that the annual 13 million emergency calls and urgent patients’ journeys can be responded to in time by ambulance staff and paramedics so as to deliver a proper service to patients, is with proper planning and with enough resources that are well managed and efficiently deployed.
‘With the greatest respect to GP practices, they neither have the time nor the expertise to replace the NHS Ambulance management structures that have been built up over time.
‘Unless of course the real agenda is to dismantle the NHS ambulance service and replace it with private providers.’