Apr 20 2007
National ambulance officer Sam Oestreicher said the ambulance service had been relying heavily on the goodwill and commitment of staff to keep up with the huge increase in demand over the past decade.
"Staff have been carrying the service for some time," he said. But now, "members are struggling to cope".
"In England, calls have gone up by a staggering 250,000 a year, prompting a major review into the way the service is run," Mr Oestreicher said.
"Our members tell us that in some areas the service is already close to breaking point."
Staff shortages and a growing number of GP surgeries opting out of out of hours care had fuelled the increased demand, UNISON said.
As the number of GPs refusing to do home visits rises, so too does the number of people calling for an ambulance to take them to A&E.
"It has been left to the ambulance service to fill these gaps by default," Mr Oestreicher said.
He went on to say the problem could not be solved on the cheap, or without an increase in resources that reflects the increase in demand.
These issues will be among those debated at UNISON's annual health conference in Brighton next week.
Http://www.unison.org.uk/