Labour research reveals one in ten paramedic posts empty

Richard Webber from the College of Paramedics said the 10% staff shortage uncovered by Labour across England is an underestimation, as some ambulance chiefs are filling some of the posts with less qualiflied care assistants. In an interview with the Times, he said:

Ambulance services across the country are underperforming due to staff shortages, Labour's shadow health secretary said.

Freedom of Information requests by Labour have revealed that one in ten paramedic posts are empty - in London and East Anglia, this figure rises to one in five. The government says an extra 2,000 paramedics have been recruited since 2010.

Political Correspondent Libby Wiener reports.

Freedom of Information requests by Labour have revealed that ambulance trusts in England have over 1,100 ambulance staff vacancies.

The requests, to the English Ambulance Trusts, showed that there are 1171.97 paramedic and ambulance staff vacancies across England. There are 12,137 paramedics nationally.

The following figures show how many vacancies there are different services across England, based on the FOI requests made by Labour, or on board papers from the trust.

• London Ambulance Service: 359.79 vacancies
• North East Ambulance Service: 22.24 vacancies
• East Midlands Ambulance Service: 20 vacancies
• West Midlands Ambulance Service: 0 vacancies - West Midlands included 'emergency care practitioners'
• South East Coast Ambulance Service: 112 vacancies
• South West Ambulance Service: 140.6 vacancies
• South Central Ambulance Service: 152.5 vacancies
• Yorkshire Ambulance Service: 46.93 vacancies
• East of England Ambulance Service: 284.64 vacancies
• North West Ambulance Service: 33.27 vacancies