Call for firefighters to respond to medical emergencies to help overstretched paramedics

Andy Burnham has called for firefighters to respond to medical emergencies to help overstretched paramedics.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service vehicles carrying defibrillators could see patients attended to ‘more quickly’ than North West Ambulance Service personnel when they’re under severe pressure and ‘help save lives’, the mayor argued.

In a letter penned to the chief fire officer this week, Mr Burnham asked the service to help ‘take the pressure off the shoulders of the NHS’. Due to growing queues at A&E, ambulance wait times have soared over the last few years, putting patients at risk.

The letter reads: “I am writing to request that, in negotiation with the Fire Brigades Union, you recommence discussions on how Greater Manchester Fire Rescue Service can best support the North West Ambulance Service to provide emergency medical response.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Mr Burnham added: “This is for when a 999 call can’t immediately get an ambulance there. It’s about keeping the people of Greater Manchester safer, because quite often firefighters can get to a heart attack incident more quickly than an ambulance.

“This is about Greater Manchester using the power of devolution to change the way public services work and integrate them more to help save more lives.”

Heart attack and stroke patients across the UK were left waiting an average of 40 minutes for ambulance call outs earlier this year. But for cardiac arrests, survival rates drop by ten percent for every minute beyond the first ten minutes, making a quick first response crucial.

Mr Burnham, who is also the co-chair for the integrated care partnership, noted the average response time for fire engines was around seven and a half minutes – ‘much faster than the ambulance service’.

“If you look at fire stations across Greater Manchester, they tend to be more embedded in communities and are often very much more present in localities than the ambulance service,” he told Mike Sweeney on BBC. “Ambulances can end up queuing at hospitals because of the pressures we see in A&E so it can take them a while to hand over patients.”

The suggestion follows a pilot scheme carried out in 2015 and 2016, which saved 63 lives and stopped 77 people from suffering ‘life altering neurological damage’, according to the mayor’s letter.

Mr Burnham claimed that the fire chief had ‘indicated agreement’ with his plan, but discussions will still need to take place with fire service unions regarding extra support and pay and with the health secretary. He also acknowledged that funding would need to be secured for the program.

“I don’t know at this moment in time what the cost will be,” he said. “If it means an extra pound from residents to support the fire service, I’ll have to see what the public feel about that.”

He added that the program would be part of a wider scheme to share pressures on the NHS across different public sectors, including more social intervention and community support.

Charlotte Hall, Local Democracy Reporter