Ambulance pressure sees fire crews called on for cardiac arrest patients

The East of England Ambulance Service Trust asked for help from Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service as it was struggling to cope with the numbers of calls it was receiving.

It asked for firefighters to "co-respond" to any cardiac arrest emergency calls, so when such calls came in both ambulance and fire crews would head to the scene if available.

This meant that firefighters could arrive first and give lifesaving treatment to the patients.

The EEAST made the request for help on Thursday evening and said the arrangement remained in place for around 48 hours, until the immediate pressure on its services eased.

During this time, Norfolk firefighters co-responded to three cardiac arrest calls. It is not known if they reached the scene of the incidents first, or if they gave treatment.

The ambulance trust says the arrangement is an example of the emergency services working closely together and that trials had previously taken place to test how it would work.

Tom Abell has officially taken up his post as chief executive of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST). (Image: East of England Ambulance Service)

But the fire service says requests such as this only occur in "exceptional circumstances".

Jamie Newell, regional officer for the Fire Brigades Union in the east, said he had some concerns about the practice, and that the fire service itself is faced with staffing issues of its own."

He said: "The irony is that when we have problems of our own, nobody is there to help us. There have been times when we've had 20 appliances out of action and yet we are being asked to paper over the cracks of the struggling ambulance service.

"EEAST cannot keep coming to us to bail us out when they have technical issues or other problems - we've been understaffed and underfunded for the past 12 years too so have problems of our own.

A spokesman for Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service said: "Our priority is saving lives and where we are able to support this to happen without compromising our existing work we can endeavour to do what we can.

"This was not mandatory for our crews but they were asked to support this, as part of our partnership working.

"We have trialled this in the past and continue to look at ways all blue light services in Norfolk can support each other as part of our ongoing collaboration work."

Just over 24 hours before the arrangement was put in place last week, EEAST chief executive Tom Abell spoke to board members about the importance of partnership work across the emergency services.

An EEAST spokesman said: "As part of agreed escalation actions and ongoing partnership working between blue light services to ensure a timely response to the public in rural areas, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service provided support for to EEAST for approximately 48 hours.

"This was in addition to existing ambulance resources and has now been stepped down."