A Member of the European Parliament has hit out at ambulance sharing plans proposed by a trust.

Labour MEP for East of England, Alex Mayer, branded East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s proposal to dispatch ambulances that already have a patient on board as a “mess”.

The embattled trust is hoping to improve category one response times for patients with life-threatening injuries or illnesses, for which Ms Mayer said the trust "came bottom" of all ambulance trusts in England in August this year.

The policy was adopted in the same month. 

Ms Mayer said: “What a mess. The East of England Ambulance Service is on the front line, hemmed in by queues at A&E and attending more call outs because of cuts to social care. 

“This is an NHS crisis made in Downing Street that needs a holistic solution. I’m worried for patients and for hardworking paramedics who are being forced to make impossible choices.” 

A spokesperson for East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust said describing the procedure as "ambulance sharing" was "misleading", adding: "We had support from our clinical commissioning groups who have ensured we have more funding to pay for more staff and ambulances to help make improvements to our performance. 

"It will take time to get the right numbers of staff and vehicles in place. This long term plan therefore needs support of a shorter term plan, entirely focused on those with life-threatening injuries."

Chief executive for the trust, Robert Morton, and Dr. Tom Davis, their medical director have confirmed that: “There are rare situations where a crew who are transporting a clinically stable patient may be passing close by to a life-threatening category one incident. 

"In such rare circumstances, it is absolutely right that the crew are contacted to assess if it is clinically safe for the patient on board, if the crew were to stop at the incident and give immediate life-saving care before the arrival of the next closest ambulance or car.”