£15 million paid to private ambulance companies by East Midlands Ambulance Service in one year

Jane Hesketh gets reaction to the £15m bill from people campaigning for improvements to East Midlands Ambulance Service.

East Midlands Ambulance Service spent more than 15 million pounds on private ambulance companies last year, a freedom of information request by ITV News Central has revealed.

Private ambulances are paid for by the NHS but they provide their own resources, paramedics, technicians and equipment.

The service says they are only used when it is under extreme pressure to reduce delays for patients.

But campaigners in the Midlands say the NHS shouldn't rely on private firms and, despite millions being spent, ambulance waiting times are not improving.

Katie Keating from Nottingham knows all too well about the devastating impact delays can have.

Her mum Janet Lyon called 999 from her home in Leicestershire last Christmas because she was having difficulty breathing.

She was told by the call handler that her symptoms didn't merit an emergency response, and that she should instead call her GP or go to a walk-in centre.

But while on the phone to her GP, Janet collapsed and died and the family were later told her cause of death was pneumonia.

Katie says "She had told the ambulance several times she couldn't breathe. She was choking, she was coughing, she was struggling to breathe, she couldn't take her medication, she couldn't drink water.

"She felt like something was stuck in her throat. She's asthmatic and she was basically denied basic care".

She says the family have been left "confused" as to why an ambulance wasn't sent out to her when she called for one.

"All of the questions come swirling around", explained Katie. "Could she have been saved? Could she have been given oxygen? Would she have been sent to hospital? Would she have made a full recovery?"

"Pneumonia, yes it can kill but she was 67, she'd never been in hospital before, she wasn't old, she'd only just retired", she added.

Matthew Hulbert's mother waited on the floor for 11 hours for an ambulance to take her to hospital.

Jacqueline Hulbert from Barwell called 999 after she fell over in her bedroom in July last year.

She died two days later after doctors discovered an infection that developed into sepsis.

Matthew, who lives in Hinckley, says the paramedics were great when they did arrive but the wait was unacceptable.

"They were very good with my mum, very kind, very caring, I'm sure they are as frustrated as much as anyone else about the situation", he said, "but the fact is it did take 11 hours for them to arrive and obviously my mum died two days later."

He is now part of a patient campaign group called Just Treatment. The group believes patients have to come before profit and there shouldn't be a need for the NHS to use the private sector.

East Midlands Ambulance Service told ITV News Central that it only uses private companies when it is under extreme pressure and to reduce patient delays.

A spokesperson said: "As hospitals use agency nurses and community services use locum GPs to respond to significant, sustained pressures across the NHS system, the ambulance sector uses private ambulance services (PAS) to help reduce patient delays."

"National investment in 2023 enabled the recruitment of over 420 new frontline, patient-facing colleagues to our EMAS team.

"This year we are working to recruit more frontline staff. Our aim is to reduce reliance on PAS as more frontline colleagues complete their training and we increase the resource hours available to respond to patients.

"Additionally, we are growing the availability of double crewed ambulances by increasing our ‘hear and treat’ and our ‘see and treat’ service (see additional notes).

"Thereby reducing the number of people who need taking to a busy hospital emergency department. This reduces the number and length of delays experienced by our patients and staff when at hospital."

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