Private ambulance service aims to reduce NHS waits

Dave Hawkins said he was inspired to offer the service after members of his family had to wait too long for an ambulance

A paramedic has launched a private ambulance service to reduce pressure on the NHS.

MET Medical operates in St Albans, Harpenden, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire but hopes to expand to other areas.

It charges users £99 to call a healthcare professional to their home for urgent cases but does not privately attend emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was committed to expanding ambulance capacity in the NHS and improving response times.

Listen: MET Medical and Healthwatch Hertfordshire on private ambulances

MET Medical has been used as contractor for the health service and has responded to more than 10,000 emergency calls over the last 10 years.

Director Dave Hawkins said: "This isn't an emergency service, this is urgent care.

"This is for people that need urgent medical attention, so that would be people who might normally see a GP but the appointment is two weeks away, or it's a parent worried about their child and just wants them checked out."

MET Medical ambulances cannot use blue lights when transporting patients

He added the service could also prescribe antibiotics or deal with calls that are a lower priority for the NHS, such as elderly people who have suffered a fall.

He hoped the service would "free up more of the 999 service to deal with those emergencies" and reduce waiting times.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We are committed to ensuring people get the emergency care they need.

Under our urgent care recovery plan, we provided £200m in 2023-24 to expand ambulance capacity and improve response times, and will maintain that additional capacity this year to further improve performance.

"We have already seen significant improvements in response times - with average Category Two responses in February over 28% faster than the same point in the previous year."