More than 1,000 staff leave West Midlands Ambulance Service in year but bosses say figures 'artificially high' with 'no current vacancies'

New figures reveal large turnover rates at ambulance trusts across England, leading to fears of extra pressure on services as we go into the autumn and winter months.

At West Midlands Ambulance Service, 1,046 departed last year, which is a turnover rate of 14 per cent.

However, bosses say the figures were artificially high because it had stopped providing call handlers for the non-emergency 111 service.

A spokesman also added the service currently had no vacancies.

Across the country, vacated roles, which include jobs such as paramedics, control room staff, mechanics and managers, increased to 6,968 in 2022-23 from 4,609 three years earlier.

The figures have been collated by the Liberal Democrats, who claim staff shortages could lead to a repeat of patients waiting in pain as pressure hits a “broken” health system this winter.

Figures obtained by the party through freedom of information requests show a 51 per cent increase in the annual level of staff departures across all 10 ambulance trusts in England since 2019-20.

West Midlands Ambulance Service had the most departures last year, although its turnover rate was lower than some others.

South Central Ambulance Service had 927 departures and South East Coast Ambulance Service had 802 – turnover rates of 21 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. There are currently 2,954 vacancies across all ambulance trusts in England, the Lib Dems said.

West Midlands Ambulance Service launched a recruitment drive for nearly 500 student paramedics in June, describing it as “one of our most ambitious recruitment plans to date”. In total, WMAS was looking to recruit 484 student paramedics across the entire West Midlands region.

A spokesman for the service said: “As hospital handover delays have reduced, the number of staff leaving the organisations has also reduced, with rates this year around the same as they were prior to the pandemic.

“Many of the paramedics who have left have gone to work in primary care, particularly within GP surgeries who have a much wider range of staff working there.

“The Trust has worked with staff and union reps to understand the reasons why some colleagues have chosen to leave over the last three years. As a result, we have implemented a number of support mechanisms particularly around health and wellbeing which are proving extremely popular and have helped to reduce the number of colleagues leaving. We currently have no vacancies and have been extremely successful in attracting new staff to join us in a wide variety of roles.”

West Midlands Ambulance Service was criticised earlier this year for stifling the ability of whistle-blowers to speak up. An independent inquiry, commissioned by NHS England, found concerns about “governance, probity, the difficulty of speaking up about these issues and the alleged behaviour of some senior leaders”. WMAS said it accepted it has learning to do, but also said the report expressed confidence in the service’s ability to address the issues raised.

Figures from the Liberal Democrats reveal Yorkshire Ambulance Service was found to have the highest vacancy rate in 2022-23 with 17 per cent of posts not permanently filled – a shortfall of 1,157 staff. The trust said it covers the vacancies with a combination of overtime and the use of agency and back-up staff.

South Central had a staff shortage of 869 posts – a vacancy rate of 16 per cent.

Demand pressures across the NHS last winter led to lengthy treatment delays as ambulances were stuck outside hospitals with patients who could not be admitted to overwhelmed accident and emergency departments.

In December, the average ambulance response time for a category two call, which includes suspected heart attacks or strokes, was over one hour and 30 minutes. The target response time is 18 minutes.

Performance has since improved, but there are concerns that a spike in demand this winter may lead to more delays.

Daisy Cooper, Lib Dem spokeswoman for health and social care, called on the Government to launch a recruitment drive to boost staffing levels.

She said: “This Conservative Government has run our health services into the ground and these figures show that paramedics are voting with their feet.

“With patients struggling to see a GP at the front door of the NHS and unable to access social care at the back door of the NHS, ambulance crews are unfairly caught between a rock and a hard place, picking up the slack from a health and care system that is broken at both ends.

“The shortage of NHS staff has caused untold pain for millions of people across the country, especially those left to wait for hours in pain for an ambulance to arrive.”

She added there is “no time to waste” and called on the Government to introduce measures to prevent ambulance services being “again put under unsustainable strain”.

Unison, which represents ambulance staff, said pressures on workers had been created by a lack of Government investment.

Sara Gorton, the union’s head of health, said: “Ambulance staff are under intolerable pressure because services are over-stretched.

“Spiralling 999 calls and endless queues outside A&E departments have left them burnt out. It’s no wonder so many decide they’ve had enough.

“Ministers must reverse years of neglect and invest in ambulance services. This might persuade staff to stay and ensure patients get the care they need.”

The Department of Health and Social Care and the ambulance services mentioned have been contacted for comment.