01.05.18
Midlands ambulance service asks government for £20m to hit targets
A struggling ambulance trust based in the Midlands will meet with NHS decision-makers today to ask for more funds after failing to hit targets for response times.
East Midlands Ambulance Service has asked health commissioners for £20m extra in funding per year, which would allow 300 more staff members to be recruited onto the trust.
The ambulance service have said that issues including failing to meet targets such as hospital handover times, which resulted in the loss of more than 6,000 12-hour shifts in the last year, and also failing to reach the most critically ill people in time as reasons for the extra demands in funds from Whitehall.
In 2016 the East Midlands Ambulance Trust was rated ‘inadequate’ for safety by a CQC report and, despite significant improvements last year, the ambulance trust continued to miss targets of response times.
Areas that would benefit the most from this extra funding include Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
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