GREAT Western Ambulance Service has revealed it has overspent by £690,000 since April, is missing its training targets and has abandoned a scheme to put lower grade staff on front line ambulance duty.

The overspend, revealed at a recent board meeting, is due to paying private companies and overtime due to sickness, maternity leave and training.

GWAS, which covers Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Avon, also missed the national target of reaching life- threatening Category A calls within eight minutes 75 per cent of the time in July it achieved 72.5 per cent.

The ambulance service also admitted it is currently failing to meet its target on staff training this year - it missed its target last year too.

The Trust said it is planning to bring operational commitments and training needs back into balance in the coming months. GWAS has also pulled the plug on a national pilot "Emergency Care Assistant programme".

The scheme was evaluating the replacement of qualified ambulance workers, called Ambulance Technicians, with a lower grade of staff with less medical training and responsibility.

Previously an ambulance was crewed by two people, who were qualified as Ambulance Technicians or the higher grade of paramedic. Both members of the crew were able to treat patients but the new ECA grade does not permit the crew member to independently treat patients.

UNISON branch chairman for GWAS, Ian Whittern, said: "UNISON's members, including many people who are working as ECAs in the trial, believe the ECA role on a front line emergency vehicle is untenable.

"The pilot was introduced to test whether ECAs could support higher qualified staff to allow them to concentrate on clinical treatment.

"However it has become apparent that the ECAs are under-trained, and this is critical at multi-casualty accidents.

"Even when a crew is treating a single patient the lower level of knowledge and responsibility increases the pressure and workload of the qualified crew member, as well as the risks of making mistakes especially in adverse environments.

"The only way to resolve this situation is for the Trust to upgrade the training of ECAs, to give them the skills and knowledge of the Ambulance Technician, which was until recently the minimum standard of qualification the public would expect."

The union said industrial relations between its members and the GWAS were worsening.

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