NHS trusts are sending "inadequately-trained" private ambulance crews to thousands of 999 calls amid a crisis in Britain's emergency services.

NHS bosses send 'ill-trained' private ambulance crews to 999 calls
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Senior medics and paramedics say lives are being put at risk by the use of commercial agencies to provide “blue-light” ambulances across swathes of Britain.

An investigation has revealed 11 counties where private firms have been given contracts to run front line emergency services as pressures on health services mount.

The College of Emergency Medicine has warned that patients’ safety is being put in jeopardy by the use of unregulated agencies, which it says use inexperienced or inadequately-trained staff, while paramedics said the practice was a “desperate” response to a crisis in emergency care.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that in 2008, a quarter of England’s 12 ambulance trusts, covering 11 counties, used private agencies to cover thousands of front line shifts.

Great Western Ambulance trust, which covers Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, filled 3,600 ambulance shifts with private agencies, while South Central Ambulance trust relied on 12 private ambulances to bolster services in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. South Coast Ambulance trust, which covers Sussex, Surrey and parts of Hampshire, began using private ambulances in July and since when it has used them to fill 249 shifts, at a cost of £1,140 a day.

There are dozens of private ambulance firms in Britain, but the majority are used by the NHS as “patient transport” transferring non-emergency patients to different hospitals, or taking them home.

The firms are staffed by former NHS paramedics and ambulance technicians, “moonlighting” health service staff, and people who privately undergo training courses to reach technician level, which gives them more basic skills than a paramedic."

Five-ton ambulances answer 999 calls by supersized patients in Britain

Five-ton ambulances answer 999 calls by supersized patients - The Independent

Extracts:

"Britain's obesity epidemic is forcing the NHS to introduce specially adapted ambulances for overweight patients.

Nearly a quarter of hospitals have brought in vehicles which have strengthened stretchers, hoists and suspension, new figures show. More than a third of those surveyed said they were planning to introduce the ambulances, so they could cope with call-outs from the obese.

The NHS spends an estimated £7bn every year on obesity- or bariatric-related disorders. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI) goes over 30. Nearly a quarter of British adults are now overweight, which has created huge problems for ambulance crews."

"How Britain's obesity problem tips the scales

BIGGER COFFINS: Funeral directors are being obliged to order larger-sized coffins from the United States to take expanding Britons on their final journey.

LARGER FURNACES: Cematoriums are installing new furnaces to cater for coffins up to 44in wide.

FAIRGROUND RIDES: Designers are installing larger seats and altering the normal way of strapping passengers in by their shoulders. Instead, they are fastened in around the waist. G Force, in Tamworth, has a larger seat at the rear of each six-seater train.

NEW AMBULANCE TROLLEYS: Wider and reinforced to cope with extra weight. They also feature clamps that fix to the ambulance floor. "

Of course there would not be any of these problems if people had been given the facts about obesity. - Obesity is not caused by overeating. It is caused by fluid retention, frequently because of taking prescribed medications, especially steroids such as prednisolone, prednisone and HRT, and anti-depressants such as amitriptyline. (When doctors prescribe drugs that cause sodium retention and water retention they should warn the patient not to eat salt, or food containing salt, while taking the medication. When they do not give this warning, the inevitable consequence is considerable weight gain.)

Read here about the groups of people who are vulnerable to salt: vulnerable groups

Obesity can be easily reduced by seriously reducing your salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables. - It is important not to restrict calories. - 'Slimming' or 'dieting' is unnecessary, ineffective and often harmful. 'Slimming'/dieting almost always results in weight gain because it usually causes increased fluid retention. There has never been any scientific, reproducible evidence to support the theory that eating fewer calories reduces obesity. PEOPLE WHO REDUCE THEIR CALORIE INTAKE DO NOT LOSE WEIGHT. - PEOPLE WHO REDUCE THEIR SALT/SODIUM INTAKE DO LOSE WEIGHT - EASILY AND RAPIDLY.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)