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Second man dies as 999 crews take break
Last updated at 15:52pm on 10.01.07
Ambulance crews say enforced breaks are not practical
The row over ambulance crews being forced to take breaks deepened today as it emerged that a second man died after a long wait to be taken to hospital.
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The 21-year-old, who has not been named, had to wait 14 minutes for an ambulance, even though two other crews were much closer.
He was declared dead on arrival at hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest following a drugs overdose.
It is unclear whether he could have been saved if help had arrived more rapidly at the emergency in Tottenham but ambulance service sources said he would at least have had time to receive potentially life-saving treatment in the hospital.
EU working hours rules and a new NHS pay scheme mean that during a 12-hour shift London paramedics and ambulance technicians must be given a break in which they cannot be sent on 999 calls.
A 73-year-old man died in Edmonton on New Year's Eve after waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance when two crews were on a break five minutes away.
The 21-year-old was attended to within five minutes by a single paramedic in a car after collapsing on 21 December.
It took 14 minutes for an ambulance to arrive to take him to hospital. As both available units in Tottenham were on breaks, the nearest working crew had to be summoned fromKing's Cross.
This latest case emerged as controversial new guidance was issued to managers saying paramedics working at the same station should be given breaks simultaneously, despite the potential delays.
One ambulance worker, who asked not to be named, said: "It has caused nothing but problems since it was introduced. Staff deserve a break but we have not got enough crews to make sure we maintain cover and get to calls.
"If crews do not get a break they can go home early - in one area on Christmas Day we had 11 out of 16 crews leave half an hour early because they had not been able to get a break. It meant there were only five ambulances available for calls between 6.30am and 7am on Boxing Day."
Ambulance crews should be given a 45-minute break roughly half way through their shift. During the first 30 minutes they cannot be disturbed at all but in the final 15 minutes they can be sent on the most urgent 999 calls if they are the nearest crew. If this happens, the crew receive £10 each.
The London Ambulance Service's director of operations, Russell Smith, said: "Staff working 12-hour shifts should not be expected to work through without a break and we try to do all we can to ensure that these needs are balanced with those of demand on the 999 service."
Of the policy of putting more than one crew on a break at the same time in the same area, Mr Smith said: "There are occasions when more than one local ambulance crew is put on a break at a time. This is necessary to ensure all staff get a break during their long, demanding shifts.
"Cover is provided by other onduty staff, either from the same station or a neighbouring station, and our control room is responsible for sending the nearest resource to any calls that are received.
"If staff are not allocated a break, this unpaid time is given at the end of their shift, meaning they can leave early. It is important that we do our best to allocate breaks during shifts to avoid large numbers of staff finishing early."
Reader views (13)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
And now, the Democrats are making noises about Socialized medicine again. Soon, we, too, will see this kind of bureaucratic idiocy.
- Brian Thomas, Mentor, Ohio, USA
I work part time as a Paramedic. We work either 12 or 24 hour shifts and there are no scheduled breaks. The only breaks are the periods between calls. We can tell dispatch that we are out taking a meal, and if a 911 call comes in they will try to send another unit that is close, but, if it's percevied to be a life threatening emergency, we get sent. I've spent shifts where we've been trying to get calls, the whole shift is one big break, and other shifts where once we've hit the streets we only make it back to quarters long enough to get resupplied, and we don't even get to sit, let alone sleep in our beds. And that's a 24 hour shift, catching catnaps in the rig between calls! To mandate a break in a 12 hour shift, an interuptable break, seems too unrealistic, and it's the community that suffers. Emergency services is a feast or famine type of job, some days you run from call to call, other days your lucky to even have a call. Yet you still get paid whether you run calls or not. Car crashes, stroke, heart attack, etc. don't wait til your off break!
- Scott Speckhart, Springfield, Illinois
This really is sad. My life was saved at 3am by firefighters not on break. A helicopter pilot (a former vietnam vet) negotiated between power lines to get to me. He also was not on break.
- Kara Tyson, Mobile, AL USA
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