999 crew on a break

Dec 12 2006 By Neil Mckay, The Journal

Ambulance bosses came under fire last night for arranging to send a helicopter 75 miles to a road accident while paramedics were having a meal break just four miles away.

Motorcyclist Glen Hollis was lying in agony with a broken arm in freezing temperatures because control room staff would not disturb the two crew nearby.

It was only because Mr Hollis was a personal friend of one of the ambulance men and able to ring him direct that the helicopter from RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, was stood down.

The accident happened in Eastgate, Weardale, County Durham on Saturday.

Mr Hollis, 39, who is suffering from a broken right arm and cuts and bruises, said: "Had I not known one of the paramedics, Craig Hay, I would have been lying there for goodness knows how long.

"Craig had not been told by the control room about the accident. They would not disturb them during a meal break, which seems crazy."

Mr Hollis, a chief engineer with the merchant navy, had called to see Mr Hay, a fellow motorbike enthusiast, at St John's Chapel ambulance station minutes before his accident.

He said: "I knew Craig was on duty and I couldn't understand it when people who had come out to assist were getting agitated because the ambulance wasn't coming.

"I have his number in my mobile phone and got somebody to call him.

"He and his colleague were out within minutes," said Mr Hollis, who is married to Sheila, and lives at Neville's Cross, Durham.

The accident happened outside the village' s Cross Keys pub.

Durham County Councillor John Shuttleworth, who has campaigned against a cut in rural ambulance cover, accused the North East Ambulance Service of "putting money before lives".

He said: "It is high time the Ambulance Trust put its house in order and addressed the meal break situation, which has festered for some time.

"It is scandalous they considered sending out a helicopter from Boulmer, 75 miles away, when there was a crew on duty just up the road."

Last year the North East Ambulance Service and health union Unison failed to resolve a dispute over payment for meal breaks. Crews are stood down for breaks - leaving gaps in cover.

Unison representative Joel Byers said: "It is a ludicrous situation but this was the agreement forced upon us by the NEAS."

Ambulance crews want an extra £1,500 a year for technicians and £1,900 a year for paramedics if they volunteer to forego guaranteed meal breaks. A national agreement states ambulance crews should work 37½ hours a week.

Mr Byers said: "This excludes meal breaks. For paramedics to be available during that time it has to be part of the working week, or treated as paid overtime. This is how everybody else in the NHS is treated and our members are no different."

An NEAS spokesman said the paramedics' actions on Saturday were "highly commendable." He said Unison had last year rejected an offer of £1,500 a year to front-line staff if they gave up meal breaks.

He said: "We received a 999 call at 3.19pm on Saturday and put an air ambulance on stand-by. It happened to be at RAF Boulmer at the time. We did so because of the rural location of the accident and owing to the circumstances, including the fact that the St John's Chapel crew were on their meal break.

"At 15.26 the crew at St John's Chapel notified our control room that they would attend the incident, which was highly commendable.

"They arrived at the scene well within the 19 minute target time for what was an emergency but non-life-threatening situation."

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Ambulance rules astonish rescuer

Gerry Stallard, landlord of the Cross Keys, who assisted Mr Hollis following the accident outside his pub, said: "We didn't dare to move the motorcyclist and the temperatures were getting colder.

"We tried to make him as comfortable as possible with blankets.

"We were told by the ambulance control room that there were no crews available at Bishop Auckland, Consett or Crook, which are all about 20 minutes away.

"They said they were going to mobilise a helicopter but Mr Hollis told us his friend was on duty at St John's Chapel and gave us his private number.

"When the paramedics came out from St John's Chapel they said they hadn't been told about the accident because they were on their meal break. It seems astonishing."