The East of England Ambulance Trust will continue to send out cars instead of ambulances to help critically ill patients, despite protests from UNISON members that the practice is harmful to patient safety.
The Trust states that it meets government targets if a solo responder reaches critically ill patients, rather than an ambulance which can transport the patient to hospital.
Hundreds of frontline staff have signed a grievance over the A19 ‘transportable’ target, saying that patients’ safety is endangered if an ambulance is not despatched.
Despite this, interim CEO of the trust Andrew Morgan said last week that he was not prepared to accept the grievance.
Tim Roberts, UNISON regional organiser said: “Our members believe decisions were made by the previous management team based on hitting this target with cars at the expense of patients to make the Trust look better on paper in the run up to Foundation Trust status.
“The trust has stated it will listen to staff concerns yet it seems to be ignoring the concerns of hundreds of clinicians.”
Frontline staff visited parliament and have been campaigning on the issue with the support of UNISON and MPs across the trust.
Please follow the campaign and sign the petition.
