Precious lives are being put at risk due to the negligence of ambulance crew because each year they are accidentally filling vehicles with wrong fuel. An investigation has revealed 769 incidents of ‘misfueling’ across the UK since 2012 which meant ambulances were out of action for days and in some cases weeks at a time.
The situation is so bad that in some areas NHS bosses are testing audio alerts to remind paramedics to use the correct fuel and avoid wrong fuelling. The data was obtained through Freedom of Information Requests and shows the increasing pressure being faced by ambulance trusts. There is also a crisis in A&E departments due to staff shortages.
This winter was extremely harsh and poor availability made it even harder for the NHS. Taxis were used to ferry critically ill patients to hospital whereas a patient froze to death while waiting for an ambulance. Campaigners at TaxPayers’ Alliance said that these wrong fuelling mistakes were threatening public safety and were wasting taxpayers’ money.
Ambulance Service
South East Coast Ambulance Service was the worst offender with 156 incidents and they spent at least £51,555 since 2012 which is equivalent to two full-time paramedics for a year. A staggering £14,310 was spent after an engine was so badly damaged it had to be replaced.
The trust said it had steadily lowered its rate of wrong fuelling due to increasingly using NHS-owned ‘bunkering’ hubs, rather than normal roadside petrol stations. But, figures from the London Ambulance Service which had 69 incidents in the last two years, show that misfueling can even take place at NHS hubs.
When the ambulance is misfuelled, typically it means put petrol into a diesel engine. The first step is to recover the van and then have its engine drained by experts. Often the fuel filter will then need to be replaced and the vehicle undergoes road tests before it is allowed back into service.
The data from London Ambulance shows its 69 misfuelled ambulances were out of action for a total of 1,902 hours or 27.5 hours per ambulance. If the same average is applied across all 769 known incidents this will mean the UK has lost at least 881 days of operational ambulance time since 2012. It means 25 weeks a year.
Other trusts with high misfueling rates include Yorkshire, which had 123 incidents costing the taxpayer more than £20,000, and North West Ambulance Service, which had 124 incidents costing £30,600.
Scottish Ambulance Service said it had suffered 64 incidents at a total cost of £8,393, while Wales had 58, costing £17,886. The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, West Midlands and East of England all refused to disclose their rates.
South East Coast Ambulance Service
John O’Connell, Chief Executive at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “These findings are very concerning. “These mistakes don’t only waste taxpayers money but also is a threat to patient safety.’
A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said: “As a trust, we have implemented control measures to reduce the risk of these events occurring by ensuring all our vehicles have a label fitted to the vehicle fuel flap indicating to staff the correct grade of fuel to be used. We have also trialed audible fuel alerts and various misfuel devices but as a trust, we have seen a drop in these type of events over the last 3 years.”
