THE full extent of the crisis engulfing East Midlands Ambulance Service has been revealed in a shock new report.
EMAS chief executive Phil Milligan has already admitted responses to the most serious life threatening 999 calls are well below par, as reported.
But now the details of incompetence and poor care in dozens of cases have been released by EMAS.
They reveal how:
One Lincolnshire patient received a head injury and died after their ambulance – travelling at normal speed – veered off the road and crashed.
A patient who was vomiting blood was wrongly taken to a hospital in the county which could not admit him. The patient stopped breathing en route to another hospital. A paramedic has been suspended from frontline duties pending an investigation.
Police were called after codeine tablets went missing from Louth and Skegness Ambulance Stations. An in-house review was carried out.
Elsewhere in the East Midlands, a 61-year-old woman who had taken a drug overdose died after an ambulance took four hours to reach her. And a patient with a suspected broken neck fell off the ambulance stretcher while being taken to hospital.
EMAS spokesman Melanie Wright said: "In the year to date, EMAS crews have responded to more than 550,000 emergency calls. The number of serious incidents reported equates to 0.009 per cent or a serious incident every 10,377 jobs.
"EMAS is an open and honest organisation. We proactively publish this type of detail in order to be a transparent organisation which can learn from mistakes and accidents.
"Many of the incidents in question relate to delayed responses to 999 calls. Our Being The Best plans will help improve the speed at which we respond. We are confident that this, together with investment from our commissioners (so we have more staff on the road) will improve performance."
Last month, EMAS confirmed it would go ahead with its controversial Being The Best programme. This will see it replace 65 ambulance stations across the region with nine "superhubs", 19 stations and more than 100 community points over the next five years.
Lincolnshire County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee has branded EMAS's consultation on the shake-up "flawed" and ultimately wants a dedicated county ambulance service.
Chairman Councillor Christine Talbot said: "I am not convinced the new strategy that is costing £54 million will improve response times – we have not been told the details of how these will be met."
But EMAS boss Mr Milligan said that the new proposals would improve response times, adding that he would be employing 140 more frontline staff and investing £120,000 in community defibrillators.
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