To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels in the ambulance service in (a) London and (b) England; and what steps he is taking to reduce vacancies in that service.
This answer is the replacement for a previous holding answer.
Answered on
16 November 2021
No such recent assessment has been made.
The number of both clinical and support staff is in the ambulance service is significantly increasing. As of July 2021, there are almost 17,700 clinical ambulance staff working in the National Health Service (NHS), an increase of 4.1% since July 2020 and over 24,700 ambulance support staff, an increase of 2.9% since July 2020. The NHS has provided a £55 million investment for ambulance trusts to boost staff numbers ahead of winter, increasing capacity in terms of available ambulances to respond to patients and of staff in control rooms.
The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) is undertaking their most ambitious recruitment drive for Paramedics, Trainee Emergency Ambulance Crew roles, and Assistant Ambulance Practitioners. The LAS recruitment team have achieved fill rates of 93% for Paramedics and 80% for non-registrant roles. They have recruited an additional 500 frontline staff and expect to end the year with only a 2% vacancy rate. This pace of recruitment is significantly above the historic rate of population change in London.