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Ambulance services in England are stretched close to breaking point with three of the country’s 10 ambulance trusts declaring themselves under intense pressure over the Christmas period.
High levels of demand forced the three ambulance services to rate themselves as reaching a “critical” state, just one short of the “potential service failure” ranking on a six-point scale measuring the pressures they face.
London and Yorkshire have been at critical status for more than two weeks. South Western moved to critical for a brief period from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night, calling in an extra 45 volunteer staff to help cope with demand.
Other trusts are at “severe pressure” status – the next level down – but even on this level, East of England said that weekend calls to the service were up by 25% on last year.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/dec/31/ambulances-breaking-point-new-years-eve-critical
High levels of demand forced the three ambulance services to rate themselves as reaching a “critical” state, just one short of the “potential service failure” ranking on a six-point scale measuring the pressures they face.
London and Yorkshire have been at critical status for more than two weeks. South Western moved to critical for a brief period from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night, calling in an extra 45 volunteer staff to help cope with demand.
Other trusts are at “severe pressure” status – the next level down – but even on this level, East of England said that weekend calls to the service were up by 25% on last year.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/dec/31/ambulances-breaking-point-new-years-eve-critical