The East of England Ambulance Service is spending millions of pounds of taxpayer cash bringing in private ambulances to attend emergency incidents. 

More than £44 million was handed to private ambulance providers between 2018-23, figures obtained exclusively by Newsquest reveal. 

The figure has soared in recent years, up from £6.9m (2018-19) five years years ago, to £13m between 2022-23. 

The service says winter and NHS pressures as a whole over the past few years means it has had to "increase" its use of private providers

The figures represents a spike of 88 per cent since before the pandemic.

Unison said the spending was a "symptom" of years of underfunding and the lack of "long term planning". 

Glenn Carrington, a senior paramedic, and Unison’s East of England Ambulance Service branch chair said: "This is like pouring £44m of petrol on the fire.

“The ambulance service is underfunded and understaffed, but instead of investing in services the trust has been spending scant resources on private providers.

“And still many patients are left waiting hours for an ambulance to arrive as crews spend whole shifts queuing up outside hospitals.

He added: “But this is a symptom of the years we’ve spent without any long-term planning or long-term investment from Westminster.

“Whoever wins the next election needs a plan to properly fund the service and properly pay staff so that we can properly look after patients."

It comes less than three months after separate figures obtained by this newspaper revealed delays to ambulances attending the most severe 999 callouts are putting lives at risk. 

Freedom of Information data obtained by Newsquest from the East of England Ambulance Service show ambulance crews were unable to respond to more than 43,000 of the most life-threatening 999 calls within national targets.

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service added: “Like all NHS ambulance services, the East of England Ambulance Service uses private ambulance providers to help ensure we provide a safe service for our patients.

“Increased demand on the whole NHS over the past few years has meant we have had to increase our use of private providers. 

“We aim to reduce our use of private providers in the coming years. We have a long-term strategy to bolster our frontline workforce and we are working with partners to reduce delays handing over patients at hospitals.”

RECOMMENDED READING: Ambulance crews delayed to thousands of 999 calls, figures reveal