A UK Ambulance Trust has shortage of paramedics despite excellent sustainability report.
There are currently 204 paramedic vacancies in the North West Ambulance Service which have yet to be filled, according to the Labour Party who released details following a request to the NHS Trust under Freedom of Information.
North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) NHS Trust said that paramedic recruitment is a national issue as there aren’t enough trained paramedics available to fill all vacancies. Emergency Times understands that the NHS Trust are to begin recruiting trained paramedics from overseas to fill posts and are currently relying on paramedics to work over-time to fill the gaps.
Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Jonathan Ashworth said “This news comes at a time when ambulance trusts are missing key targets to respond to serious calls, and A&E departments are bursting at the seams. Our paramedics work extremely hard to look after patients all year round, and the Government needs to act now to make sure hard working staff get the support they need to deliver safe care to patients when they need it most.”
Pic: (North West Ambulance Service Trust)
The North West Ambulance Service Trust was established on July 1st 2006 following the merging of Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Mersey regional ambulance trusts. The NWAS Trust is one of the largest ambulance trusts in the UK, with 5,000 staff operating from over 100 sites to a population of around seven million people.
In its Annual report publish this week, the NWAS sustainability report has been rated as ‘excellent’ by the Sustainable Development Unit. As well as being the only ambulance trust to have been rated as ‘excellent’, the Trust has also been included in a list of best practice examples supplied by the Sustainable Development Unit – which aims to advise other NHS trusts and CCGs on their sustainability reporting.