THE “crisis” facing the North East Ambulance Service is laid bare in secret files, an MP said yesterday – with worried police stepping in to take injured people to hospital.

North Durham MP Kevan Jones unveiled County Durham police logs which reveal a soaring number of incidents where officers have raised the alarm about ambulance failures.

They show the monthly number of “tagged” incidents has leapt from 48 to 122 in just 12 months – one in six of all cases that involve the police force.

In the six months between April and September, ambulances were delayed on 326 occasions and, on a further 125, police had to “act on their own initiative”.

Mr Jones also outlined numerous examples of failures logged by police, including:

  • Man “self-harming with glass and has cut his stomach” – ambulance unable to attend because of 65 “outstanding incidents”, so taken to hospital by police.
  • Man with head injuries taken to hospital with police - because no ambulance crew available and 39 “outstanding incidents”.
  • Police attend death of 70-year-old women – three-and-a-half-hours later, undertakers have arrived, but no ambulance to “confirm death”.
  • Man with history of self-harm rings ambulance service saying he is going to hang himself – police not asked to enter house for two hours.
  • Ambulance fails to attend woman with “severe facial injuries” after two hours because of 44 “outstanding incidents” – she is left “in care of family member”.
  • Intoxicated woman in shop is “failing in and out of consciousness” – police ring ambulance but “get no reply” after four minutes, then further six minutes. Eventually cancelled after woman able to go home in taxi.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Jones urged the Health Secretary to “intervene”, saying: “I have no faith whatsoever in the ambulance service to sort this out.”

The Labour MP ridiculed the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) for ordering a review by Deloitte, adding: “My constituents don’t want management consultants – they want healthcare professionals.”

And he told ministers: “If we don’t do something in the North-East, people are going to die.

“These delays are causing a huge amount of angst to people and are putting huge pressure on the police and fire and rescuer services.

“They are put in desperate situation where they see people need urgent medical care and they can’t get it – and this is happening in 2014.”

The comments follow previous Commons debates, where MPs have raised similar concerns about patients in desperate need waiting hours to be taken to hospital.

But Paul Liversidge, the NEAS’s chief operating officer, defended its record, insisting it was exceeding its target of responding to three-quarters of life-threatening calls within eight minutes.

Its work with local police had recently been praised by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for helping to improve care of patients with minor conditions or injuries.

Mr Liversidge said: “All calls are prioritised on the patients’ clinical need and requests from police officers do not take preference if other callers have a greater need.

“We have a very close working relationship with Durham Police and have introduced a number of schemes aimed at improving awareness of how the ambulance service prioritises patients.”