Hampshire’s ambulance service fills 200 vacant posts as it tackles staff shortage

South Central Ambulance Service (Scas) has chipped away at the number of vacant posts blighting the service, which last year stood at a staggering 350.

However, in the space of 12 months, Scas has managed to slash this figure down to just 168 – and hopes to reduce this further with a bolstered recruitment drive.

It’s hoped the increased number of staff will help to reduce the strain faced by the service across the county.

Scas still needs extra personnel to fill a range of key posts, including people who handle emergency 999 calls, which flood into Scas every day. 

Managers from the organisation have previously been forced to use costly agency staff to fill the gaps, piling additional pressures on Scas’s budget.

Scas insisted that although there are still scores of vacancies to fill, front line ambulance services had not been affected.

A spokesman said: ‘There are no current vacancies for paramedics, although the trust continues to invest in developing our paramedic workforce, helping us to meet future demand on the service.

‘As part of a new national deployment initiative, the trust is now recruiting emergency care assistants (ECAs).’

Vacancies for clinicians, 999 call handlers and ambulance care assistants will be among those advertised at Scas’s next recruitment day.

 Last year Scas was named as one of only two ambulance trusts in the country meeting national performance targets.