AMBULANCE bosses are to be asked to explain the huge rise in complaints against the service, when they appear before City of York Council this week.

The council’s health overview and scrutiny committee will meet in the Guildhall on Wednesday, and has asked the Yorkshire Ambulance Service to send representatives to discuss the “shocking” rise in complaints, revealed earlier this month in The Press.

Complaints against Yorkshire Ambulance Service soared by more than 40 percent over the past year, and dissatisfaction with the service now accounts for 11.2 per cent of all NHS complaints in our region, against a national average of 4.3 per cent.

Coun Siân Wiseman, vice chair of the committee, said: “We will be questioning them on the report which appeared in The Press. The figures are shocking.

“By law the health overview and scrutiny committee is the only legal area where the council can call the trusts to account.

The figures were revealed in a report by the NHS Information Centre, which shows the number of annual written gripes against hospitals, community services and GPs.

In April last year, the ambulance trust was given five months to improve its response times after it emerged they were the worst of any trust in England. The service improved and hit its target with two months to spare.

This year disgruntled ambulance staff have twice contacted The Press to raise concerns over a perceived lack of emergency cover for some areas of York.

A spokesperson for the service said: “Many of the 1,058 complaints and concerns received relate to our non-emergency patient transport service which made 1.1 million non-emergency patient journeys last year, and which operates alongside the A&E service which received 725,000 urgent and emergency calls during the same period.”

She said the service also included verbal complaints in its figures, which not all trusts necessarily do. She said the trust also received compliments from patients.

Asked how YAS intended to reverse the rising trend, the spokesman said they would act upon any feedback received.

The meeting is at Guildhall at 5pm on Wednesday.

York Press: The Press - Comment

Alarming figures

RECENT figures showing a huge surge in complaints against Yorkshire Ambulance Service were certainly alarming.

The number of complaints has soared by 40 per cent in the past year, and now account for 11 per cent of all NHS grievances in our region – against a national average of four per cent.

It is right, then, that officials at the trust are to be asked to explain the sharp rise in public dissatisfaction when they appear before city councillors this week.

Coun Sian Wiseman, chair of City of York Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee, said the statistics were “shocking”, and we await the explanation with interest.

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