NHS chiefs shamed for having 32 different types of ambulance in report carpeting bosses for wasting £500m
An independent review seen by The Sun criticises huge variations and lost opportunities to save money across the nation’s 10 ambulance trusts
NHS chiefs have been shamed for having 32 different types of AMBULANCE in a report carpeting bosses for wasting £500 million.
An independent review seen by The Sun criticises huge variations and lost opportunities to save money across the nation’s 10 ambulance trusts.
The Lord Carter report says some £200 million a year could be saved by better ‘productivity’ – such as buying centrally to save money.
He said his review team “had identified” 32 different types of double-crewed ambulances across the country – with different trusts stocking different medicines and even different types of gloves.
And the report said £300 million a year was wasted because too many people were taken directly to jam packed A&E departments when they could be treated at home or in designation treatment centres for elderly patients.
NHS chiefs have missed targets to have 150 of the GP-led treatment centres up and running to deal with “many of the most common ailments” by the Spring. And the report said ‘auto-dispatch’ technology to send an ambulance out at the mention of the word ‘heart attack’ in a call had taken 12 years to be rolled out nationwide.
The findings come just weeks after Theresa May and ex-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt promised £25 billion-worth of extra funding for the health service.
The report says: “The ambulance service plays a pivotal role in saving lives. Trusts answered 10 million 999 calls and responded to over seven million separate incidents last year.
“But there are structural issues in the provision of health services which need to be strengthened.”
A spokesman for NHS Improvement declined to comment.
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Health Minister Steve Barclay admitted more needed to be done to save every penny possible for patient care.
He told The Sun: “As we commit to spending £25 billion a year to the NHS it is vital that we ensure best practice is followed across the board so that savings can be reinvested for the benefit of patients.”
NHS Improvement declined to comment but said the report was a “draft”.
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