East of England Ambulance Service criticised over 'potentially dangerous' limits on time spent at emergency calls

Patient care should be at the forefront of our role and not performance figures, say ambulance staff.

East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) has been heavily criticised for telling staff to spend no longer than 42 minutes attending a scene for a Category 2 response.

Category 2 is classed as an emergency response, and would include conditions and injuries such as epilepsy, burns, and strokes.

GMB Union, which represents thousands of ambulance workers across the country, has raised serious concerns about the issue, citing the significant risks to patient safety and staff wellbeing.

The union has approached EEAST and its CEO, Neill Moloney, with these concerns but there has been no meaningful engagement to date.

Staff have reported that if they spend 42-60 minutes at a scene, they are asked to justify this time to a manager, and if they spend longer than 60 minutes they face being stood down from active duty for a meeting with their manager, further reducing their patient-facing hours.

The union understands that those staff who regularly spend longer than 60 minutes at a scene could be referred for a capability process, placing their job at risk.

Any loss of patient-facing staff would place additional pressure on the service. 

A GMB member working for EEAST said:

"It's an unrealistic expectation and having my performance evaluated based on something that can be out of my control is unfair. Patient care should be at the forefront of our role and not performance figures.

"This is just not feasible for most of our patients, we have become a largely primary care service, time and patience is often required. I am aware and try for 42 minutes but this should not at the detriment of my patient.

"Knowing I'm being measured on those metrics is a stressor and potentially mean I might not get the patient the right care but just the quickest."

Gavin Davies, GMB Senior Organiser, said:

"This absurd policy fails to take into account the variety of incidents our skilled and dedicated members are asked to attend.

"Our members' first priority is patient safety, and no one should place an arbitrary and potentially dangerous time limit on how long it takes to ensure an individual patient receives the care they need.

"We are hearing of members experiencing high levels of stress as a result of these demands which, combined with an already high-pressure job, is a recipe for burnout.

"We are calling on the Trust to urgently review its policy and stop punishing our members for doing their best for patients."