SOME people are abusing the services of the Emergency Ambulance Service putting pressure on “already scare resources”. That is according to chief executive officer of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Dexter James.
James told a media conference yesterday in the boardroom the hospital was looking at taking legal action to stop people who use the service for “everything that is more than an emergency condition.”
He indicated that some people used the service as a means of getting into Bridgetown.“They [ambulance officials] will take information as to where you are calling from and give you some basic information. By the time you get to A&E, it has now moved from an urgent chest pain to a slight headache.
“It is a very serious concern. We now have to monitor in the [emergency] services, persons who use and abuse the system for non-emergent conditions. This is not a service that you want to test, this is a life service that provides emergency responses to a population.There should be very little, or none at all, abuse of the use of such a facility,” said James.
The CEO insisted that the Government-owned EAS was not a “patient transport vehicle”.
He explained that an ambulance was a highly sophisticated vehicle, [managed] by trained and experienced emergency medical technicians and paramedics who were responsible for dealing with life threatening circumstances.
“We see an average of about 14 000 patients a year through the emergency ambulance service. We would like to continue to provide an efficient service, but we ask for personal responsibility on the part of the public. Reduce the abuse,” James said. (AH)
