Ambulance service calls in army as Covid forces 1 in 4 staff to stay home

Granada
Coronavirus
Health
Friday 7 January 2022 at 12:30pm

Credit: PA

Ambulance service bosses in the North West have requested help from the army, as a quarter of their staff are forced to stay home due to Covid.

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) say around 150 members of the military will begin training next week for call outs to what they describe as "non-emergency patients."

The army will "partner" with clinicians on-the-road, say the ambulance service

Military teams will be trained to drive ambulances, how to lift and move patients, use emergency kits and give basic life support. NWAS say they will be on-the-road for a "number of weeks."

It is not the first time the army has been called upon to help the blue light service. Last winter, military personnel attended 4,600 non-life-threatening 999 incidents for NWAS.

> Appointments cancelled as 'critical incident' declared at North West NHS trusts