‘Shocking waste’: NHS is spending £1m a week on private ambulances for emergencies, union says

The NHS has been accused of “shocking waste” after research by a trade union found it was spending more than £1m a week on private ambulances for emergency calls.

Unison – whose members have just accepted a new government pay deal – says it had responses from two-thirds of ambulance trusts in England that paid private companies to provide emergency cover for critical patients.

It said more than a dozen private companies have been used by trusts in England to try and plug holes and meet response times amid what it called overwhelming demand.

Crews and vehicles are booked up to a year in advance, Unison claimed, so they are available to response to emergency incidents such as strokes and road traffic accidents.

It added that spending the money on private 999 care was a “short-term fix, not a long-term solution to the crisis in ambulance services”.

Speaking ahead of the union’s annual health conference in Bournemouth, Unison’s head of health Sara Gorton said: “This spend on private 999 services shows a lack of long-term planning and is a shocking waste of money.

“It’s nothing more than a sticking plaster solution. Ambulance services are in a desperate state because the government has failed to invest long term.

“Patients are waiting ages for help to arrive or worse still dying before crews can reach them. Others are stuck in emergency vehicles outside hospitals for hours and hours on end waiting for a bed.”

She urged ministers to offer “proper funding to tackle increasing demand and pay staff properly”.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are working hard to improve ambulance waiting times which have substantially reduced from the peak of winter pressures in December 2022.

“Our Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan will allow people to be seen quicker by scaling up community teams, expanding virtual wards, and getting 800 new ambulances on the road. This is on top of £750m we provided this winter to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds.”

Despite Unison members accepting a pay deal, negotiations continue with the Royal College of Nursing, which announced on Friday that its members will strike for 48 hours from 8pm on 30 April after rejecting the offer.

NHS nurses in emergency departments, intensive care and cancer wards will also take industrial action for the first time.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health trusts, raised concerns over the possibility of nurses and junior doctors walking out at the same time in the dispute over pay.

“We are concerned about the speculation that the possibility of a combination of junior doctors’ and nurses’ action, so both of these things would be a significant escalation,” he told Sky News.

“It’s very difficult to see how either of those things wouldn’t endanger patient safety and dignity.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has told the union: “The decision to refuse at this stage any exemptions for even the most urgent and life-threatening treatment during this action will, I fear, put patients at risk.”

The Royal College of Nursing has said there are currently no plans to coordinate strike action with the British Medical Association.