TJ
The private firm providing emergency ambulances in Surrey employ IHCD Emergency Medical Technicians (the same as the NHS) and HPC registered Paramedics (the same as the NHS)....G4S who i do some work for only employ either registered Paramedics or registered Nurses...as clinicians we are beholden to our professional body not the private firm we work for.
Whether i am working in the private sector or for the NHS i have to work to the same standards the HPC (Health Professions Council) demand from me whatever the setting.
If the working environment is substandard and the firm (private or NHS) expects me to deliver sub par care either through poor equipment or lack of drugs etc then i am fully entitled and supported by by professional body to walk away and not return until the relevant changes have been made....the days of unqualified/unregistered cowboy clinicians polluting the private sector have long gone.
The ambulances that ERS (emregency response services) use carry the same kit as our NHS ambulances, without it they werent allowed the contract in Surrey....the service delivered to the patient hasnt got worse, it has stayed the same but that doesnt fit into you political ideal about standards in the private sector having to be worse.
The reason they are cheaper is because they have a smaller HQ than our NHS one, have fewer managers and dont have an estate of ambulance stations to maintain....the part about estates is massively important, if you think i'm talking nonsense have a gander at the direction that most NHS ambulance trusts are taking....they are selling off individual properties and creating central 'super stations' as its just too expensive to maintain the 18-20 stations we have in Surrey (and we're a small county).
The figures were told to staff a few years ago when the 'privates' first started to appear and we all questioned why the service was using them when we are all quite happy to pick up the vacant shifts on overtime?
The answer was quite simple (but probably still wont be good enough for you)....to pay full time existing NHS employees to work extra hours means paying overtime at either time and a half or double time whereas the private firm can just employ its own staff (usually other NHS staff moonlighting) a flat rate....instantly they have undercut the NHS provider, add on to that the fact that ERS dont have ambulance stations, the staff are based in the vehicle for the duration of the shift and you have another instant saving....in short the cost per hour of having this private firm do our work for us was about half what it costs to do it ourselves!
Now i'm not saying that this will be the case in all areas of the NHS, i'm sure some areas are a beacon of efficiency but in other areas the private sector can (and does) show just how poorly managed some NHS services are.
