Fuel prices and cuts pose twin threat to emergency services

Paramedic, police and fire services across the region are all struggling to save millions of pounds, with senior officers grappling with cuts of up to 20 per cent while waiting to discover the extent of more Government-imposed austerity.

It has been estimated that the region’s ambulance service will have to save £40m over the next five years, but its bill for fuel has rocketed by 91 per cent in six years alone – with more fuel price increases set to hit in future years.

According to Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust statistics, it has a fleet of over 500 emergency vehicles and over 460 so-called “patient transport” vehicles which ferry people to and from hospital and other non-emergency appointments.

It is now feared that the cost of running that fleet and the fleets of fire brigades and police forces will become less and less sustainable as spending cuts continue to bite and options for raising extra cash from taxpayers remain tight.

Most emergency services build a fuel price increase into their budgets each year to stay ahead of prices, but with grants now dwindling the cash has to be found from elsewhere, meaning savings in other vital areas of 999 organisations.

Managers said they believed it unlikely that front line services would be significantly hit, but admitted if the cost of fuel continued to increase as many commentators predict, something would have to “give” to ease financial pressure.

Rod Barnes, executive director of finance at Yorkshire Ambulance Service said: “High fuel costs clearly have an effect on our organisation due to the nature of our work.

“In addition, demand for our services increases year-on-year which also contributes towards our rising fuel costs. The trust has sufficient funds in place to deal with expected increases in fuel prices without it affecting patient care.”

North Yorkshire Police has seen
costs rise by 25 per cent since 2005 and South Yorkshire Police has seen a 77 per cent jump in a decade. Hospital trusts are also affected, with two – Harrogate and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole – reporting increases of more than 150 per cent.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, which has seen its fuel bills increase by a 86 per cent since 2002, said it was having to find new ways of working to cut costs, but also said changes would have an environmental benefit.

A spokesman said: “Like everyone who uses vehicles, our fuel costs have gone up in recent years. We do a lot more community safety work than we used to, fitting free smoke alarms to keep people safe. But these costs are offset by the fact that 999 calls have halved since 2004, reducing our need to attend emergencies.

“We don’t believe that increased fuel prices will significantly affect us in the future. We are targeting our community safety work more effectively at those most at risk of fire, producing the same benefits for less cost.

“The new vehicle strategy adopted by our authority this week specifies that, as our current support vans come to the end of their life cycle, they will be replaced by vehicles running on carbon free fuels such as electricity.”

On Saturday, the Yorkshire Post revealed concerns of councillors and MPs about the impact of rising prices on the region’s local authorities, which are using vital reserves to pay for fuel to run bin lorries and lawn mowers.

Coun Steve Houghton, who speaks on finance issues for regional group Local Government Yorkshire and Humber (LGYH) which includes police and fire authorities, said 999 service managers were now “running out of options”.

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