Daily Mirror - 27.08.2019

the incident with a defibrillator and

restarted the father-of-four’s heart.

But Trevor, who lived near Melton

Mowbray, Leics, died five days later.

The NHS trust paid a £6,600 out-of-

court settlement to the

family following the 2014

tragedy. Last night Matt

reacted with dismay to news

the NHS is spending more

money on private

ambulances. He said: “This is

so sad to hear. I wish people

would wake up to the gradual

privatisation of the NHS by

stealth by the Tory party.”

patients, not profit, first.” Data from 10

ambulance trusts in England revealed

they spent £92,476,915 on private

ambulances and taxis in 2018/19. This

was up on £90,862,230 the year before.

Trusts argue the increased reliance

on private ambulances is due to a

chronic shortage of NHS staff and

problems with recruitment.

The CQC report in March found

“ongoing issues with poor

recruitment, training and

safeguarding processes,

with evidence of inci-

dents of serious harm to

people from staff that

had not been properly

recruited and vetted”.

Colm Porter, of union

Unison, said: “Research

suggests private firms are cutting

corners and failing to provide the level

of care needed for patients.”

A statement from the Independent

Ambulance Association said: “Monies

spent on independent ambulance

providers by NHS ambulance trusts

are an investment to ensure the

highest standard of care is provided.”

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@MirrorAsp

VOICE OF THE MIRROR: PAGE 8

mirror.co.uk TUESDAY 27.08.2019 DAILY MIRROR^13

DM1ST

NHS relies on

‘risky’ private

ambulances

in 999 crisis

TRAGEDY Trev o r

Heart attack dad failed by

company with faulty defib

TREVOR Moncrieff died after bungling

paramedics from a private ambulance

firm responded to the cardiac arrest

call with a broken defibrillator.

His son Matt was forced to perform

CPR on his 66-year-old

dad as they tried to get

the faulty device to work.

But they dithered and

then discovered they

could not order back-up

because the NHS

ambulance trust they

worked for had not given

them radios.

Firefighters attended

BY ADAM ASPINALL

THE NHS is turning to “risky”

private ambulances for 999 calls

because of a chronic shortage of

qualified staff, it has been revealed.

Major ambulance trusts across

England spent more than £92million

in the past year on private ambulances

and taxis to transport patients.

This is despite a warning

from the Care Quality

Commission earlier this

year that patients were

being put at risk by

private ambulances.

Yesterday, Shadow

Health Secretary Jona-

than Ashworth said:

“Labour have long warned

against the risky, wasteful

practice of privatising patient

transport services. Matt Hancock

[Tory Health Secretary] promised ‘no

privatisation on his watch’ and yet, just

in the last few weeks, another patient

transport service, in Worcestershire,

was privatised, leaving staff in tears

and fearing for their jobs.

“Patients are utterly fed up of profi-

teering companies like this taking our

NHS for a ride. Labour will end the

Tory privatisation racket and put

Firms ‘taking patients for a ride’

SAFER NHS

ambulance

Hotting Hill carnival time

REVELLERS basked in the sunshine

yesterday as drummers and dancers in

fabulous costumes paraded on day two

of Notting Hill Carnival.

Stewards accompanying the bands

handed out water to dancers who were

decked out in colourful feathers for

Europe’s biggest street party.

Police were granted extra powers to

stop and search people attending as a

Section 60 order was put in place.

Almost 12,500 officers patrolled to

make the West London event “safe and

spectacular” for the huge crowds.

By 7pm yesterday 146 people had

been arrested.

On top of this

more than 100

people were

arrested the

day before.

This included

12 detained on

suspicion of

attacking police. WINDOW DRESSING Revellers get a good view

COOL Street

performers

needed water

SIZZLING

Dancers at

Notting Hill

performed in

searing heat

HELPER Part of the

big police presence

11 police hurt

at illegal rave

ELEVEN police officers

were injured by angry rev-

ellers as they shut down an

illegal rave in Ibiza.

Police say they were hit

with iron bars and rocks as

they made 73 arrests at the

party attended by 1,000.

One officer reportedly

had to fire his gun into the

air to avoid being attacked.

A witness described the

scenes, in woodland near

Cala Conta on Sunday, as a

“pitched battle”.

Local sources said they

thought the party may

have gone on for days if

police had not stepped in.

Sir fired over

film screening

A TEACHER dismissed for

showing a gruesome war

film to 12-year-olds has

lost a tribunal case.

Israeli film Waltz With

Bashir, rated 18, featured

shots of massacred kids

and parents protested to

Mearns Castle High.

One dad said “the film

was wholly inappropriate.”

Hebrew teacher Jona-

than Guetta, of Gourock,

Inverclyde, was fired over

the matter in May 2018.

An employment tribunal

ruled East Renfrewshire

council had acted fairly.

Dentists are

brushed off

BRITAIN’S biggest dental

dodgers have been identi-

fied in a survey.

A poll of 2,000 adults

aged 18-60 found 6.25% of

Yorkshire folk had not seen

a dentist since childhood.

They were followed by

people from the West

Midlands (5.9%), East of

England (5.5%) and East

Midlands (5%).

The main reason why

we dodged the dentist was

“fear of pain” with 93% of

women scared of a going

for a check-up, research by

Hudgell Solicitors found.

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