Ambulance crews on the Isle of Wight are said to be preparing to hold a symbolic vote of no confidence in their management amid growing anger over proposed shift changes, reduced vehicle numbers and mounting pressure on staff wellbeing.
Sources within the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service (IOWAS) have told Island Echo that new rota proposals, as part of an ongoing consultation that began earlier this month, could see the number of ambulances operating in a 24-hour period reduced from 16 to 15, including a cut in overnight cover.
Currently, 8 crews start between 06:00 and 08:00, with additional shifts at 12:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 5 night crews starting between 18:00 and 19:30. Under the new plans, this would change to 6 early starts, 2 mid-morning, 1 at 12:00, 2 at 14:00 and just 4 overnight crews.
Sources say the changes risk leaving the Isle of Wight vulnerable during busy periods or major incidents, especially as support from mainland services is not guaranteed or rapid.
One worker told Island Echo:
“It would only take a relatively minor road accident, between 2 cars each with 2 passengers, to completely exhaust all ambulance cover across the Island.
“Add into this ambulances having to undertake roles historically carried out by District Nurses or GPs, especially overnight, and it’s easy to see why the service is on its knees.”
Crews say these added responsibilities include responding to 111 calls that don’t require emergency care, covering gaps in overnight GP and nursing provision, and, at times, stepping in for hospice teams when short-staffed.
Staff also claim that disruptive changes to working hours are worsening fatigue and morale. They say the introduction of 6-hour shifts, an increase in the number of working days, and new 12-hour shifts starting as late as 11:00 are placing additional strain on crews. They warn that removing fixed start times and regular crewmate pairings will impact stability, family life, and mental health.
Parking difficulties at St Mary’s Hospital have been cited as a further pressure for those starting later shifts.
Whistleblowers allege that management is proposing to increase the number of double Emergency Care Assistant ambulances – vehicles staffed without a Paramedic – to reduce costs. They warn that this downgrades clinical capability and could delay life-saving treatment for patients.
One source said:
“Management is replacing Paramedic-led crews with double ECA vehicles. Paramedics are vital for administering life-saving interventions and essential medications. These changes will mean slower response times and less clinical care at the scene.
“This is about cutting costs, not improving safety.”
They also claim that many vehicles are already running without Paramedics on board, and that the Trust is not backfilling the 3 of 50 Paramedic posts currently assigned elsewhere. ECAs cannot administer pain relief or medications, and require authorisation even to give oxygen. Crews say this is already impacting patient care.
Crews also highlight that delays at St Mary’s are now often seen, with patients held in ambulances for hours due to emergency department overcrowding.
The proposed changes come despite a 36% rise in calls since 2019. This year, more than 33,000 incidents are expected – up from 24,298 just 5 years ago. Crews estimate around 30,000 will require ambulance dispatch.
Training hours are also being cut from 7.5 hours every 5 weeks to just 6 hours every 6 weeks, despite Paramedics needing this for registration. The Trust is also proposing a shift pattern that could see crews working up to 60 hours across 5 consecutive 12-hour shifts, with a few rest days in between.
One crew member said:
“Most days all day crews are on calls by 08:30, often clearing a backlog left from overnight. Recently we had 6 day ambulances – but only 4 with Paramedics, 3 late vehicles, 3 night vehicles, only 2 with Paramedics. There was no overnight manager, and no critical care car. Somehow, this was viewed as being safe.”
Another added:
“Crews being sent to calls with 4, 5, 6 hour delays, or even longer is the norm. I heard within the last few days of a crew being dispatched on a call at 03:00 in the morning that had been held for over 17 hours.”
The consultation process began on 3rd November and will run for 30 days.
The planned vote of no confidence is said to reflect growing disillusionment among staff, who describe the current direction as ‘unsafe, unsustainable and demoralising’. They are calling for external scrutiny of the service’s leadership and decision-making.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has said:
Joe Smyth, Chief Officer at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, has said:
“We recently launched a consultation which proposes changes to frontline rotas that enable us to be financially sustainable while continuing to provide safe provision of services.
“All services need to seek new ways of working to ensure continued financial stability whilst meeting the changing demands of our community. We understand this may be a troubling time for our teams, which is why we are consulting on the proposed changes and have already received extensive feedback.
“We remain committed to working together to refine these proposals and ensure we continue to safely meet the needs of those we care for.”
Unqualified crews have been being used for years. That isn’t new. The worst thing about that is there are many paramedics in cushy pen pushing in jobs that refuse to attend emergencies whilst unqualified staff are sent out. The amount of admin staff is at a ridiculous level. Also, the two women in the top jobs have never even worked on an ambulance, one is a radiographer and one is a nurse so have no idea about how it feels to work on an ambulance. If the public knew how that place is run, they’d have no confidence either. If anyone cares to challenge my comments, bring it on. I know, I worked there for many years.
Spoken like someone who has clearly never had to manage staff or a budget, let alone a healthcare department or service. It is very easy to blame “management” for everything when all you have is your narrow, blinkered view of your own role within an organisation
Dawn
I admit no specific knowledge of the ambulance service but have considerable knowledge of managing in the NHS, they are hugely over staffed in the wrong roles, if anyone mentions operational efficiency it is guaranteed to get your career sidelined, permanently. The NHS operational ethos is designed to manage public expectation on treatment and waiting times, i.e. 4 hour wait at casualty is acceptable, 6 hours is not. 12 months delay in a routine operation is OK, 18 months is not, we now accept this as the norm and the NHS base their resources on such delays.
With the ever increasing population there needs to be more provision not less
I feel for everyone in this situation, patients, crews and managers alike. It’s not a situation anyone would want. It’s emotionally draining for staff and, at best sub optimal for patients.
I can understand why managers need to try and reconfigure the provision of ambulances, but ultimately the only intervention that will make a difference is more funding. To have a chance of achieving that, a senior leader from the trust would need to make noise. Not an enticing proposition for them or their career, but other ambulance chiefs have been in similar positions in the past.
Total crap, the management are incompetent and the money wasted on bureaucracy, meetings, jolly boys outings and made up jobs for incompetent staff members who can’t cope on the road makes me sick. The whole system needs slashing back to basics, attending proper emergencies. They’ve forgotten that patients need ambulances not managers. I could name several people there stealing a living but I dare not.
They have to find money for the DEI managers from somewhere.
And don’t forget the insane headlong rush toward “green” (AKA Electric) ambulances which are an absolute danger to patients.
I am all for updating working practices especially when they are ineffiient , the ambulance service is singularly ineffective in just sending one crew to an incident, they always double up with operational commanders and the like like when they are not required, base the ambulance assistants at st marys and they can take over from paramedics who deliver patients leaving them free to take the next call. But, union say NO..
Why is it always the lower paid people the cuts happen to,isnt it about time the top nobs on higher pay get cut first so the service can run better in any business,including our council and government. It always seems to be the hands on worker that get pushed aside or cuts made to and never the well paid pen pusher who usually couldnt organise a piss up in a brewery
Well if you will insist on hiring the workshy
Public sector workers, say no more.
Do us all a favour and say no more
So they have enough money to employ a seemingly endless supply of ‘operational commanders’ in their nice flashy vehicles to attend even the most basic of incidents but need to save money and reduce both crew and vehicles. So here’s an idea, make the operational commanders into paramedics and then sell all the nice cars and buy an ambulance or two and there you have it! A service filled with skilled workers and no ridiculous spurious staff who get sent out at god knows what cost to all and sundry incidents. We managed without operational commanders for years, so lets go back to doing what was always done well.
Mmm. I think it’s time a “Freedom of Information” request goes in to ask how many clinically trained staff are in non-operational roles. Looking at other Ambulance Services, they don’t send Commanders to any where near as many as our service does!
Also, other Services are increasing the numbers of ambulances available to match the growing demand. So how come this lot think they can reduce the number?
A huge cost saving would be to hand Ambulance Control over to the mainland – as have Police and Fire with no issues. Nowadays, technology assists and so no reason to have a Control Room here. The low numbers of calls they take can easily be absorbed by South Central Ambulance, saving dozens of salaries – allowing that money to go back to frontline staff.
And yes….. for a Service as small as ours is – it is VERY management heavy – none of whom help out when calls are waiting to be answered.
Just give the whole Service to the mainland!
Since Labour got in the NHS is getting worse.
Come on, wake up you politically ignorant person. I can remember the Tories or is it lavatory’s did nothing to help. That was 14 years, yes 14 YEARS, of money grabbing incompetence.
Zzzzzz
This is going to go the same way as the Fire and Rescue Service on the Island.
As someone who worked on an ambulance for many years, I can honestly say I worked with some great human beings. Lots of the paramedics didn’t have degrees but they had amazing skills learnt through many years of experience and human compassion. I totally understand the concerns about staff that aren’t paramedics as I experienced it myself in the past. In saying that, although not degree trained, these people will provide amazing care, compassion and skills to maintain life and prevent deterioration of health. I know this because I still know a lot of these people and I know how caring many of them are. I have nothing to say about the management / office side of the argument.