Criticism is not helpful - Emergency staff are '˜run ragged' | Reader Letter

As a serving paramedic with South Central Ambulance Service I take issue with his comments about his perceived ‘poor service’. Also his rude comments re the ‘No Hope Service’.

In the Southern area of Hampshire – particularly Portsmouth and Gosport – we are absolutely ‘run ragged’ with jobs from the minute we log on to the minute we finish our shift 10 hours later.

The event as described was hardly life-threatening (which is the main reason the ambulance service exists) and an RRV (car) arrived 38 minutes after the original call.

What may not be realised is that this car may have had to travel a long way to answer this call.

All calls are prioritised according to the severity of the incident.

Also the ambulance may have had to travel a long distance.

Did no-one think to pop this lady into a taxi and travel to the minor incident unit at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, or even to give her a lift there once it had been established that this was not life-threatening?

As regards his comment about the ‘No Hope Service’, the pages of this newspaper weekly contain letters from people praising us and I don’t think comments like ‘No Hope Service’ are justified.

Paramedic

Name and address supplied