‘Insufficient staff’ at East Midlands Ambulance Service

A report by the Care Quality Commission has found that the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), which has some of the worst response times in England, has “insufficient staff” to be able to meet the needs of patients in a “timely manner”.

The report found that staff felt under pressure and unable to take scheduled breaks. However, despite suffering from low morale, they were committed to providing patients with safe, high quality, care.

In the report, the trust was told that response times must reach national targets and meet patient needs, and that it must ensure that there are enough emergency vehicles provided to meet patient demand.

The CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, Prof Sir Mike Richards, said “There was an unrelenting demand for emergency services combined with a lack of staff and resources to meet the need.

“We found that while people were cared for and treated well, there were insufficient staff and a lack of appropriate skill-mix to meet the needs of patients in a timely manner.”

It has recently been revealed that in the last financial year, the trust overspent by nearly £12m and, in order to help with running costs, were required to take out an additional loan.

EMAS said that the extra costs incurred had been due to an increase in emergency calls and delays in hospital handovers. The trust’s acting chief executive, Richard Henderson, said “We will be continuing our recruitment campaigns.  Last year we recruited over 300 staff.  This year again we will be doing exactly the same.

“We will be increasing the numbers of vehicles available but most importantly we need to ensure we retain our existing workforce.”

Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers have years of experience in medical negligence compensation claims, and have obtained substantial compensation for our clients. Not only do we represent clients in Yorkshire, but because of our reputation we also represent clients nationally.

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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