PARAMEDICS are taking “calculated risks” when treating 999 patients because they can’t guarantee being able to raise an ambulance.

That is the damning view of one South Central Ambulance Service insider who says finding alternative methods of getting a patient to hospital quickly was “becoming normal practice” in Hampshire.

The whistleblower, who cannot be identified but has worked in the field for many years, claims there are insufficient vehicles to cover the county and new ones are only brought in to replace worn out trucks.

The worker spoke out after the Daily Echo reported how ambulances couldn’t respond to 999 calls twice on the same day, despite patients needing urgent medical treatment at hospital.

In one case an elderly woman was left waiting for 70 minutes for an ambulance after she slipped and suffered a suspected broken leg on the icy pavements.

Passers-by stopped to help and comfort her, but despite six 999 calls, there was no vehicle available to take the 85-year-old to Southampton General Hospital.

Later on the same day a doctor had to commandeer a Hampshire fire service truck to take an injured motorcyclist to hospital because, once again, no ambulance could be located.

The injured man, an on-duty police officer, had suffered serious arm and leg injuries and needed quick hospital treatment. He was placed on a stretcher in the back of a special equipment unit, which carries heavy gear to assist in fires and rescues.

The paramedic said a backlog at the city’s A&E department and longer wait times in booking patients in was also restricting the availability of ambulances, while drunk people complaining of breathing difficulties were being made a higher priority of call.

The worker said: “Not getting to a 999 call is nothing unusual, it’s becoming normal practice. There simply aren’t enough vehicles to cover and that is dramatically reduced in most parts of the day. South Central Ambulance Service keep telling us we are getting new ambulances but they’re just newer models to replace the worn out ones.

“At the hospitals you can often find yourself in a queue waiting to offload patients and get back on the road. It’s calls from drunks claiming they are struggling to breathe that take the higher priority and that’s why people like the elderly lady who slipped are left waiting.”

Ambulance calls are prioritised by trained staff

A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust told the Daily Echo that 999 calls were answered by trained staff and prioritised using a nationally recognised computerised system, which categorises the call based on information given by the caller.

She added: “At this time of year the whole healthcare economy is put under additional pressure and we are working with our partners at the hospital in order to ensure that crews are released as quickly as possible so they are able to attend their next emergency.

“Our staff have been working tirelessly throughout this period which has proved to be a challenging time for the service, and we are very grateful of their dedication and hard work to serve the patients of Hampshire.

“We apologise for any distress the delay may cause and would like to ask the public to help us keep ambulances free to respond to emergency calls by following some simple advice: Ask yourself – is your call an emergency? It may be that an alternative course of action is more suitable, particularly if you have a minor injury or are suffering from winter ailments such as coughs, colds and flu.

“Last week we did find that the prolonged cold weather meant that some people found that pre-existing breathing difficulties were exacerbated and subsequently required our assistance, equally, although this cannot be directly attributed to the cold weather, at peak times we did see additional road traffic collisions, which may have been caused by the cold weather and freezing temperatures.”