Following latest news about ambulance waiting times in Peterborough a paramedic anonymously contacted the Peterborough Labour Team to share their frustrations about the state of the NHS – and to explain why the government are making it worse.
They wrote:
“I am a Paramedic and have enjoyed a career in the Ambulance service spanning nearly 10 years thus far. For the past 6 of those years, I have regularly conveyed patients to Peterborough City Hospital.
“When I first started conveying patients there, it was an uncommon event to be asked to wait to handover, at worse it would be a 20-minute delay-but this was rare. Since then, I have watched helplessly as the state of the hospital has slipped. As a local paramedic I regularly care for patients waiting on ambulances for upwards of 6 hours just to be admitted to an early assessment bed.
“This has a direct impact on the health and safety of the people of Peterborough and surrounding areas; because Ambulances are unfortunately a finite resource. When there are 25 Ambulances waiting to offload at hospital, who is left to respond to the 999 calls? This is why people are waiting for Ambulances to respond, not because of strikes, not because of short staffing; but because we must wait for hours on end outside of our precious hospitals, whilst people are struggling, and we have no-one to send.”
Andrew Pakes, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Peterborough, responded by saying:
“The NHS is the biggest issue people raise with me whether that is struggling to get a doctor’s appointment, worries about ambulances or waiting times to start treatment.
“After 13 years of Conservative mismanagement of the NHS, patients in Peterborough are waiting longer and getting a poorer service.
“I want to thank all the paramedics and staff right across the NHS in Peterborough who are working tirelessly to keep us safe in the face of this crisis.
“Peterborough desperately needs a Labour government that will end this crisis by providing the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history.”