Military personnel are stepping in to help support East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) as they suffer from staff absences and pressures on services due to Covid.
It was announced today (Tuesday, January 11) EMAS will be joined by 60 army members, who will assist with non-emergency responses.
They will drive vehicles, move patients and equipment and offer basic life support including the use of automated external defibrillation.
The aim of the operation is to reduce delays currently being experienced by non-emergency patients.
It comes as EMAS continues to suffer with Covid-related absences, with 250 staff off work due to the virus at the end of December.
Ben Holdaway, director of operations at EMAS, said: “Transmission rates of COVID-19 in the community have continued to rise, and we have seen an increased number of EMAS staff needing to self-isolate or be absent due to testing positive for COVID-19.
“Combined with the intense pressure the whole NHS system is under, and the high demand on our service, some of our less urgent and non-emergency patients are waiting longer for an ambulance than they should rightfully expect.
“Our new military colleagues will bolster the Urgent Care part of our service which attends non-emergency patients.
“This in turn will ensure our emergency ambulance crews can focus on attending the life-threatening and serious emergencies in our communities.
“While the introduction of military support has always been part of NHS plans in case of increased pressure, we are taking this proactive step now to safeguard the provision of a safe 999 service for our patients in the coming weeks."
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