AMBULANCE crews in Notts are to stagger the times they have lunch breaks under new plans to improve response times.
A "rota review" will come into force on Monday July 1 across all ambulance stations in Notts, with some stations having made the changes already.
The review is part of the East Midlands Ambulance Service's (EMAS) "Being the Best" programme, which is reshaping the way the services runs, with the hope of speeding up response times – an area where the service has failed in the past.
Speaking at an inquest, EMAS control centre manager Alison Crowe said that the rota review would help the service as a whole react quicker.
She said: "It is one of the changes we have put in place to try and make sure we have the crews available at busy times."
EMAS has admitted that "currently there are not enough duty hours allocated to cover the high demand during the middle of the day".
Dr James Grey said co-ordinating when crews had their breaks would avoid a "narrow window" when cover was not at its strongest.
EMAS paramedic, Wayne Roland, said: "Only time will tell if this works. We have had the rota reviewed before, it's something that usually gets done when the service gets new blood in and wants new ideas."
All paramedics and frontline staff must have a 45-minute statutory lunch break by law.
The ambulance service is set a goal of responding to 95 per cent of the most serious and life-threatening calls within 19 minutes.
Figures for the end of year 2012-13 showed that the ambulance service reached 91.8 per cent in that time.
An EMAS spokesman said the rota review was about making sure there were sufficient crews available at peak times.
He said: "The rota review is mainly about matching resources to the changing patterns of 999 demand.
"The rest-break element will improve as a result of having more appropriate resource levels at the right time but this wasn't the main driver for the review.
"Also, this was one of the measures under our overall Being the Best change programme, which also dealt with issues such as the reconfiguration of our estates and management restructure.
"The additional staff we will be recruiting – as a result of extra funding we've secured this year – will also have a positive impact on our response times."
