More than £38 MILLION spent on private and voluntary ambulances in the East Midlands
New stats have been revealed
East Midlands Ambulance Service splashed out more than the yearly salary of many paramedics on external ambulances every day for three years. Shocking figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that the service (Emas) spent £38,644,000 on private and voluntary ambulances to plug gaps over the past three years.
This works out at an average of £35,211.32 a day. Most newly qualified paramedic are in the Band 5 of the NHS pay scale. That means a starting salary of £27,055, rising to £32,934 after four years.
The largest chunk of the money on external ambulances was spent last year and amounted to £13.594 million spent on external ambulances. Emas spent from £13.139m on private ambulances in 2021 and £11.991 million in 2020. This money was spent across the entire service area.
Harborough District Councillor for Market Harborough Great Bowden and Arden ward Phil Knowles, who submitted the freedom of information request, said this number was likely just the tip of the iceberg.
“The response to my question indicates that in the Emas area alone the amount spent by the powers that be on private ambulances is rapidly approaching £40m and in three calendar years,” he said. “It is a huge amount of money and naturally leads on to many other questions.
“This figure, as I say, is for Emas area alone. I wonder just what the figure is if this request is extended to Ambulance Services across the whole of the country?”
John Wright, assistant director of operations at East Midlands Ambulance Service said: “We use private and voluntary ambulance providers resources to support during periods of intense demand in the wider health system to help us provide the best possible service to the public.”
A spokesperson for the service added they have been experiencing an unprecedented volume of calls. The Trust is in the process of recruiting and training new frontline ambulance staff so more crews are available to respond to community need, he added.