Ambulance cuts will put 'lives at risk'
Posted: 29 May 2014, 09:19Lives could be "put at risk" in the North West by a move to cut ambulance services, a trade union has warned.
The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) is planning on taking a number of ambulances off the road overnight to help save about £14m this year.
Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, Carlisle and Penrith will all lose some overnight services under the move.
The NWAS said for non-life threatening situations, patients would be "pointed in the right direction" for help.
Paul Foley, of Unison, said the move was not "putting patients first".
He said: "If you take emergency vehicles out overnight, the response times to emergencies will be reduced and there is a risk to patients.
"Saying there's someone at the end of a telephone who can talk a patient through whether they need to dial 999 is just delaying the service. Someone who is having a stroke or a heart attack needs an ambulance there rapidly."
More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27600763
The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) is planning on taking a number of ambulances off the road overnight to help save about £14m this year.
Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, Carlisle and Penrith will all lose some overnight services under the move.
The NWAS said for non-life threatening situations, patients would be "pointed in the right direction" for help.
Paul Foley, of Unison, said the move was not "putting patients first".
He said: "If you take emergency vehicles out overnight, the response times to emergencies will be reduced and there is a risk to patients.
"Saying there's someone at the end of a telephone who can talk a patient through whether they need to dial 999 is just delaying the service. Someone who is having a stroke or a heart attack needs an ambulance there rapidly."
More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27600763