South Yorkshire fire crews tackle rising number of medical incidents

The Fire Brigades Union says the rise is typical of the additional pressures being put on firefighters and they should not be asked to play the part of doctors .

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue recorded ​51 non fire-related medical incidents in 2018-19, according to the latest Home Office statistics, up ​from 35 in 2010-11, the earliest data available. The increase mirrors that across England, where crews were called to 19,900 such cases last year – a 77 per cent rise on 2010-11.

The number of call-outs peaked at 45,700 in 2016-17, a year after emergency medical response trials were introduced that saw fire crews respond to medical emergencies alongside paramedics.

South Yorkshire Fire stopped the trial after the FBU withdrew from it in 2017, but crews are still responding to more medical incidents than before it began.

T/Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Steve Helps said: “As a service we fully recognise the national position regarding medical call-outs and, as such, don’t currently send our crews to such incidents.

“Our firefighters are trained in trauma care and there are occasions where they are needed to provide medical intervention.

“Examples include a crew coming across a person who has fallen in the street, a resident falling ill during a home safety check or a man being assaulted in Rotherham – as happened recently.

“In relation to the 15,000 other calls we attend each year, the number of incidents like these is extremely small, but the impact on the person in need is huge.”

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said any increase to firefighters’ workloads should include a ‘significant’ increase in their pay, along with appropriate training.

He said: “Firefighters are there to keep their communities safe from fire and other hazardous emergency incidents.

“While there may be occasions when firefighters are required to attend medical emergencies, they are not doctors, paramedics, nurses, or social carers – and nor should they be.

“Firefighters are overstretched and under-paid and services are under-resourced.”