Rise in non-NHS ambulance use costs £2m in Wales

Ambulance bosses have defended a rise in the use of non-NHS crews and vehicles with costs increasing from £172,000 to over £2m since 2012.

Private ambulances were used 9,242 times last year compared with 1,248 in 2012-13, according to details released, external after a request by Plaid Cymru.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said it was due to a rise in demand and a change in the way the service was delivered.

But Plaid said the ambulance service needs a long-term plan to meet demand.

Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust executive director Patsy Roseblade said: "All businesses use a range of providers to cope with peaks in demand and this is neither unusual nor necessarily a bad thing.

"That's why we've been using a range of providers in recent months, including private and third sector providers to bolster our capacity while we realign our own resources in a more efficient and effective way."

The ambulance service said private providers, including St John Ambulance crews, carry the same life-saving equipment and staff have the same level of skills.

Additional providers have been operating mainly in south east Wales covering health board areas for Cwm Taf, Aneurin Bevan and Cardiff and Vale.

Since 2013/14 the ambulance service started using private providers to support transfers to hospital for patients referred by GPs.

And it said more recently it has "made a conscious decision to support internal capacity with the use of private providers for responses to emergency calls" which are more expensive due to the equipment and skill level required by crews.

The use of taxis by the service has also increased from 682 times three years ago to 868 times in the last financial year, costing £10,000.

Ms Roseblade said: "Using taxis where clinically appropriate means more ambulance resources are available to respond to life-threatening calls and therefore represents more effective use of the finite pool of specialist skills and equipment available to us.

"Too often we get calls that do not need an ambulance service response. Lots of people who call 999 simply need to see a pharmacist or GP."

Plaid health spokeswoman Elin Jones said: "The dramatic rise in the use of private ambulances for emergency transport indicates a desperate need for a long term plan to meet demand in-house.

"Plaid Cymru has made it clear that we want to see an increase in the number of ambulances and staffing to ensure there is sufficient emergency care available to treat people at the scene as well integrating health and social care to improve patient flow and reviewing GP out-of-hours care."