Ambulance crews "incensed" over planned night-time cuts at Vale of Leven depot

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ambulance crews have been left “incensed” over planned cuts to night-time provision in the area.Plans are afoot to reduce crews between midnight and 5am at the Vale of Leven’s ambulance depot.The changes will see the current three crew provision cut back to two overnight from April but three ambulances will remain at weekends.Stations in Paisley and Greenock will also be hit by changes, which come in the wake of a Demand and Capacity Review carried out by a private contractor on behalf of the Scottish Ambulance Service.The move has been slammed by disgruntled workers.One insider told the Lennox: “The SAS are reducing this to two ambulances at night and increasing cover during the day.“A cardiac arrest is responded to by two ambulance crews, a road traffic collision is normally attended by two crews plus obese patients, difficult extractions et cetera often require two ambulance crews to convey patients from home into an ambulance .“Does this sound safe?”The insider added: “Crews in all stations are incensed by this review as management are simply not listening to our concerns.“This is a dangerous reduction in night time cover, we are all concerned for the welfare and safety of staff, family and friends living in these areas.“it’s a seriously dangerous move.”The Scottish Ambulance Service handed out contracts to English-based ORH Ltd and Working Time Solutions to probe demand and capacity, which insiders claim was hoped to identify cost reductions such as reducing overtime payments.But the Scottish Ambulance Service played down concerns, saying: “No areas are losing an ambulance crew; rather additional staff are being recruited and trained across the country.“As part of our Demand and Capacity Programme, we have already