A&E overtime crew operate extra vehice weeks after core staff cuts

Front line A&E ambulance hours are to be reduced by 4,085 in Londonderry and by 6,396 in Omagh this year - a total of almost 80 hours per week.

The reduction kicked in on April 1 and is an attempt to make what the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) describe as "efficiency savings."

But the Sentinel has learned that since core hours were cut an additional ambulance has been introduced and Londonderry currently has greater cover than before - albeit paid for through additional overtime pay.

Last year the NIAS chief Brian McNeill explained that A&E hours were to be reduced by 13,557 hours across the Western Trust area from a funded baseline of 111,795 hours per annum.

A total of 4,085 hours are to be removed in Londonderry but Mr McNeill argued that the remaining hours would be complimented by 7,300 hours of Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) cover - an RRV is a smaller car or jeep type vehicle staffed by one experienced paramedic and which attends only emergency calls. This would represent a net gain of 3,215 hours of paramedic cover.

The NIAS says that it completed the implementation of the planned reduction of traditional A&E response hours in both Londonderry and Omagh on April 1, 2010.

NIAS also says it has provided a greater number of paramedic hours than the hours removed as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) investment.

The NIAS said it was committed to monitoring the impact of these changes to ensure that they represent the most effective and appropriate means of delivering an ambulance service to the affected areas.

A spokesperson advised that the NIAS is now in the process of reviewing how best to make use of the investment available through the CSR to further enhance service delivery.

The spokesperson admitted that the ambulance service has - in the interim - provided an extra A&E vehicle and that this was currently being staffed by overtime crews.

"In the interim, NIAS has moved to provide an additional A&E vehicle, 12 hours per day, 7 days per week in the city. As this is additional cover, it is necessary to pay overtime rates to staff who make themselves available for its provision," the spokesperson stated.

"NIAS will continue to monitor the impact of the changes which have been introduced recently."

The NIAS has consistently defended the proposals to save money by cutting back on the use of fully equipped emergency ambulances.

Other proposals from the NIAS aim to increase the use of private cars to ferry non-urgent patients to local hospitals.

But the majority of proposed savings will come from cutbacks to emergency ambulance cover.

The cuts in core emergency ambulance cover amount to almost 80 hours a week this year. But it has now emerged that cover has been increased with an extra vehicle on call 84 hours per week.