West Midlands Ambulance Service complaints on rise

There have been 279 formal complaints made so far this financial year, according to its Patient Safety and Quality Report. Top reasons include response times.

The attitude and conduct of ambulance service employees also feature in the list of public complaints. A total of 22 serious incidents were also reported at the service since April last year.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Claire Thomas said: "Whilst we acknowledge a rise in the number of complaints, this is largely down to people expecting an ambulance to be dispatched to every 999 call, however minor it might be. Only around 10 per cent of calls are genuinely life threatening – the primary purpose of the ambulance service.

"Each call we receive is triaged with the most serious receiving the most immediate response. In around six per cent of cases, we do not send any resources at all, but senior paramedics direct the caller to an alternative part of the NHS such as a pharmacist, a walk in centre, self-care or their GP.

"It should also be noted that the number of complaints is vastly outweighed by the 641 compliments the trust has received."

Since April, the ambulance service has reported 56 incidents of patients being hurt. There were also 310 'near misses' compared to 181 in 2010/11.

The service says that while even one incident is too much, the figures should be put into context.

"The trust is extremely proud of how few patient safety incidents take place. When you consider that we provide assistance to over 800,000 patients a year, the fact that we have such a small number of adverse incidents is testament to the skill and dedication of our staff," added Miss Thomas.