The service plans to introduce more ambulances across the region but the re-allocation of vehicle numbers and types in some locations has raised concerns.

The MP for Berwick, Sir Alan Beith, said the loss of one of the towns two emergency ambulances would risk lives.NEAS said without changes it would “fail to meet response targets”.

The plans include adding a new category of ambulance to the current rapid response vehicles and dual-crewed ambulances.These “urgent care” vehicles, with no paramedic, would deal with the majority of hospital and GP transfers and other non-emergency calls.

Some places would gain one or more types of ambulance, while others would lose some of their current provision.Many locations would gain one type of ambulance while losing another.

via BBC News.

Retired hotel manager John Barker, of Acomb, rang 999 in severe pain, but Yorkshire Ambulance Service nurse Alan Thomas Haugh overrode a computer system which would have triggered an immediate response by paramedics.

Instead, Mr Haugh, a father of three, told the 65-year-old that his condition did not appear life-threatening, and classed him as a Category C patient rather than Category A.

via York Press.

The group of front-line staff who have contributed to ‘Pain: an ambulance perspective’ were presented with their own copies on Wednesday and guests also heard about how pain management for patients was an area that needed more focus in the ambulance care arena.

Edited by clinical managers Tracy Nicholls and Lucas Hawkes-Frost, the book is the first of its kind covering areas such as assessing and measuring pain, medication, children and pain, and pain relief in the elderly.

Every clinical member of staff in the region will receive a book and publishers Class Publishing will be selling the book to all good bookshops and online book suppliers.

via Bedfordshire Local News.

Buy it now from Amazon UK -

Pain: An Ambulance Perspective

Thomas Dudley, 30, of Trafalgar Square, also admitted selling on a stolen Xbox games console following the burglary on November 15.

He also pleaded guilty to using threatening words and behaviour towards a passer-by in Trafalgar Square on November 24.

During a sentencing hearing at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court, the court heard how Dudley had committed all the offences whilst in drink.

via Scarborough Evening News.

The new unit at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton is the first stand-alone paediatric emergency department in the region.

Coogan was joined by young patients Rosie and Alfie Jones for the official ceremony yesterday (January 31).

Previously children have been treated within the adult A&E at Royal Sussex County Hospital.

via The Argus.

He says his problems began when the North West Ambulance Service introduced a policy of ‘hot-desking’ – where workers take any desk at the start of their shifts.The emergency dispatcher told his bosses of his condition and asked them to reserve a certain seat to prevent his disorder from flaring up.

via Manchester Evening News – menmedia.co.uk.

The ruling states that a type 1 or type 2 diabetic who takes insulin would lose their licence if they have two severe hypo attacks in one year.

But the problem lies in the use of the word severe and now Diabetes UK is working with the DVLA to clarify the rules so that people with diabetes are not unfairly penalised.

Bridget Turner, head of policy for Diabetes UK, said: “At the moment the word severe can be interpreted in many different ways by different people so there needs to be a clarification. There also needs to be clarification about whether night time hypo, in which people who have an attack in their sleep, are actually at risk.”

via Channel 4 News.

Throughout December 2011 and January 2012, Essex Police noted a sharp rise in the number of nuisance calls received by call handlers at their headquarters in Chelmsford.

Other examples of time-wasters that Essex Police dealt with over the past months include a women who asked police to remove a spider from her home, a man who wanted to know whether a bank in Basildon was open and another intoxicated man reporting that he’d seen a chef drop a burger on the floor and then serve it to a customer.

via The Enquirer.

Margaret McKay, 72, collapsed and died at home in Greenock in 2006 but her family was never told that two paramedics were later struck off for the way they treated her.

Mrs McKay’s death is one of at least five being investigated by the authorities after Sky News uncovered secrecy by health watchdog the Health Professions Council (HPC) and some ambulance services which kept details of misconduct from the families of dead patients.

via Sky News.

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 community, in particular helping to protect the precious resources of the NHS Ambulance Services and local acute hospitals from the effects of binge drinking and alcohol abuse.  However, the Governing Council of the College of Paramedics has had a number of concerns expressed by its members over the repeated reference to the term ‘paramedic’ and ‘paramedics’ throughout the programme and also in the title of the series.

via College of Paramedics.