The College of Paramedics has serious concerns over the terminology used in the recent programme entitled ‘Party Paramedics’. The programme featured the work of the SOS Bus and Team in Colchester over the summer period.  The College of Paramedics recognises the important work and community service that this group of volunteers provide to the local [...]

A young woman who assaulted a paramedic at a hospital claims she was too drunk to remember what happened. Jemma Wrighton, 21 of Ashburnham Road, Bedford kicked the paramedic technician repeatedly when she was taken to hospital after police found her intoxicated and lying in the street on Shakespeare Road on December 30. Toby Earnscliffe, [...]

The co-ordinator of Colchester’s SOS Bus was shocked at the way the town was portrayed in the Channel 4 documentary, Party Paramedics. The 60-minute programme, broadcast on Monday, described Colchester as one of Britain’s hardest-drinking towns and contained scenes of fighting and vomiting. Wayne Powell said: “Channel 4 approached us and we gave permission, but [...]

Every incident paramedics attend in a day will be ‘live-tweeted’ during a massive Twitter experiment. Crews from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) will take part in the ‘tweetathon’ to give people a rare insight into what they do. A member of the trust’s communications team will accompany the crew as an ‘observer’ to tweet [...]

An ambulance overturned and crashed into a ditch while carrying a patient on an emergency “blue lights” call in Essex. The East of England Ambulance Service said a collision involving a van happened at about 10:25 GMT in Main Road, Danbury. The patient, aged in his 70s, was cut free and moved into another ambulance. [...]

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is misleading the public by distorting emergency response times, a union has claimed. The GMB said the trust was marking 999 calls as “target met” when the emergency was still ongoing, to hit targets. The trust strongly denied the accusation, calling the claims “untrue, unacceptable and [...]

A paramedic who was off work for six months after being attacked by a patient is suing ambulance bosses for £100,000 after claiming they did not tell her the call-out was dangerous. Lynn Sutherland was punched and kicked by 16-year-old Grahame Donnelly after racing to his home amid fears he had taken an overdose of [...]

Unions have urged the government to slow down the roll out of the new non-emergency NHS telephone service amid fears a lack of nursing input could increase pressure on other services. NHS 111 is due to replace NHS Direct from April 2013. But unlike NHS Direct, which is a national service, contracts for NHS 111 [...]

An Angus teenager who threatened to knife two paramedics has been sent to a Young Offenders Institution for six months. John Brand was so aggressive that they locked the door of their ambulance before driving off for their own safety. Brand’s lawyer blamed the youth’s actions on the shock reaction to a beating. Depute fiscal [...]

The number of patients waiting more than four hours in hospital accident and emergency departments has jumped by 40 per cent in a year, figures show. Nearly 900,000 were delayed for this length of time in 2011/10 compared to just under 600,000 in 2009/10. Last year the Government scrapped a target brought in by Labour [...]