Armed police dispatched to heart attack patients as crisis-hit NHS succumbs to surge in demand

Police spend nearly a third of their working hours maintaining other services as the NHS is under pressure from surging demand, says British Army Chief Inspector is warning you.

With armed police calling out for cardiac arrest and a shortage of paramedics, some officers are kept waiting for patients in his A&E for hours.

Andy Cook, Chief Inspector of the HM Police Department, toldThe Independent that as the military becomes "first, last and last," officers now have an estimated 30 He said he spends 10% of his time working outside the police. As a result of the NHS crisis and reductions in mental health provision and social services, the only recourse”.

He warned that at a time when recorded crime in England and Wales is reaching record highs, this is pulling the police away from tackling crime.

} Mr. Cook, former Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, said: Because they are trained in first aid and use defibrillators.

"The ambulance called the police and said, 'I have this heart patient, but I have no one to send it to.' The police go, they're right they're gone, but it masks problems in the rest of the system."

An officer who spoke anonymously to The Independent , said armed police are routinely sent to ambulances in his unit's area.

"I see logs every day that say 'cardiac arrest – can you send me an ARV,'" he added. "Some of them are terminally ill, and if you call an ambulance, I'm afraid the police with guns will come out."

NHS leaders worsening response times, 999 calls to record The ambulance service faces a "chronic crisis" as it has reached such heights. Last month, all 10 of the country's ambulance services were on the highest possible level of "alert", with patients requiring urgent care, such as suspected strokes, waiting up to two hours.

A parliamentary report last week warned the NHS and social services sector were facing "the biggest workforce crisis" in history, with a "relentless shortage of workers" threatening the lives of patients. He said he was exposed. Long wait times for an ambulance and his A&E service have been exacerbated by record absences due to COVID-19.

The National Police Commissioners' Council (NPCC) said officers had to take patients to hospitals due to a shortage of ambulances. This sometimes means that he has to wait hours at A&E in a psychotic or vulnerable state. a person who has not committed a crime.

Chief Constable Olivia Pinckney, national leader of local police, said:

"You can also put police officers in situations where they are doing their best but have to make decisions that are not in their best position."

Ms. Pinkney. said the police depended on functions to be performed by other emergency services or public bodies, adding: In need of.

"While we are working with our emergency services partners, local authorities and the government to ensure this issue is resolved, it should not be the first resort in a situation like this.

Cook said police were justified in assisting medical professionals in cases of violence or crime, but added:

"Once things have calmed down, the response should end. You don't have to sit with people in the hospital for six to eight hours."

Demand hit a record high and the NHS responded to 900,000 emergency calls. Among category 2 patients, including those suffering from stroke and heart attack, the mean response time was 51 minutes, well above the target of 18 minutes. said it was "not a desirable situation" to transfer a patient to a hospital.

Managing Director Martin Flaherty added:

Police leaders have also expressed concern about the surge in calls for non-criminal mental health crises, with an earlier Watchdog report stating that police officers " It warned that we were being forced to "pick up the pieces" of a broken mental health system.

Mr. Cook warned that the additional demands on police would affect their ability to tackle crime, saying: Look at the factors that are influencing policing away from what the public wants.

``The rest of the system, including mental health, NHS, ambulance services and other professionals, need to stand up and count.

``I accept their challenge. They went through a long period of austerity, so they had far fewer social workers and youth workers, and far fewer people involved in mental health.

He commented that recorded crimes were at a record high in England and Walesand the rate of crimes leading to prosecution was at a record low. It came out after it plummeted to 5.6%. The rape figure is only 1.3%.

Cook said the figures partly reflected improved recording practices rather than a "criminal explosion," but warned that charging rates were "not good enough."

He called for the police to "get back to basics" by responding appropriately to victims and making the best use of investigative tools and crime prevention opportunities," but that must ensure sufficient time and resources to deploy," he added. Do what the public expects of them. ''