The military has been drafted in to help ambulance services which are busier than at any time in NHS history.
Staff shortages and busy A&Es tying up paramedics waiting to unload patients have meant military personnel have been needed to help services in the North East, East of England and South West, as exclusively revealed by the Mirror last week.
Unions are demanding more ambulance workers be recruited, insisting “something is wrong” with the military now “routinely” drafted in to help.
Sara Gorton, head of health at the union Unison, said: “Seeing a member of the military turning up to a 999 call is a real sign that things aren’t all well in the ambulance service.
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“And what we’re seeing is situations that used to be very occasional - so services operating at the highest incident level, shift over-runs - that these have become everyday situations, and it’s just not sustainable.
“It’s creating this vicious circle as the pressure builds it causes more sickness among staff, and that itself adds to the pressure because there are fewer people and fewer vehicles to go round.”
Pent up demand from patients who avoided the NHS during lockdown is placing strain on many services.
Patients are presenting after their health has deteriorated and some require ambulance services.
Latest ambulance data available for July showed it was the busiest month ever for the emergency service.
It answered more than a million 999 calls including 82,000 for dire life threatening conditions, up 8,000 on the previous record high in June.
There were 1,431,499 attendances at major A&Es which was the second highest on record.
Emergency wards are still well below capacity as beds are mothballed as part of Covid infection control measures.
Some 32.3% of patients waited more than four hours to be seen in July - the highest ever recorded.
Some 2,215 patients endured 12-hour trolley waits after a decision to admit them.
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This was by far the highest July figure on record with the second highest being 451 in 2019.
One paramedic, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC Today programme: “A lot of staff take time off because of burn-out.
“We are often back-to-back with our jobs, and often not getting a break until particularly late in our shifts.
“We often are stuck at hospitals because we can’t unload our patients and that will lead to late finishes as well because of the demand that we’re under.
“If we are the closest resource to a category one emergency - such as a cardiac arrest, if someone’s not breathing, if someone’s unconscious - we will be sent to that, even if it’s one minute left of our shift, and that job can take an hour, two hours’ time and that’s in two hours that you’re then finishing late.”
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Ambulance trusts have been operating under incredible pressure in recent months due to national lockdowns, patients presenting with more severe symptoms, the growing mental health impact of the pandemic and very stretched primary and social care.
“This has meant that at times, ambulance services have been overstretched, impacting on care for patients and the wellbeing of staff and volunteers.
“Severe workforce shortages have also been compounded by high rates of burnout, staff sickness and quarantine measures.
“It is clear that investment in the ambulance service is long overdue.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting ambulance crews who work tirelessly responding to emergencies every day.
“There are hundreds of new ambulances on the roads across the country thanks to our investments, and we are providing record funding to the NHS, with an extra £29 billion this year alone for health and care services, including £1 billion to help tackle the backlog that has built up during the pandemic.”
