"The more overriding question should be 'were the "emergencies" these ambulances responding to actually emergencies.
Historically when a 999 call was received the call taker would ask the location the ambulance was needed and then ask what the principle reason for calling 999 was, i.e chest pains etc. Only after this information was received would the ambulance be dispatched on blue lights. If the call taker received a call that did not warrant blue lights, an ambulance was still sent at the same time but in non emergency conditions. This meant less risk to the crews and less risk to the public. However, a few years ago under the previous labour administration, in a bid to standardise reporting of targets across the UK's ambulance Trusts, a system called 'call connect' was implemented. Call Connect required the ambulance dispatchers to send the ambulance, as an emergency (blue lights), as soon as the address was received, regardless of the nature of the call. Only following minutes of questioning is the true nature of the call understood and the call downgraded to a non-emergency call where applicable. In densely populated areas this usually means the call is not fully assessed before an ambulance arrives on scene. This in turn puts the crews and the public at greater risk due to the increased number of calls being responded to on 'blue lights'.
The labour government believed that the time saved in immediately dispatching the ambulance compared with getting the basic details of the call first, would not only standardise target reporting across all the UK ambulance Trusts but would also give a better level of care for the patient. In the time frame of a 999 call cycle we are talking about a saving of approximately 30s, which in life threatening conditions is very important. However, the modern ambulance service deals with less and less life threatening conditions, and more common illness conditions such as diarrhea and vomiting bugs, social and mental health issues etc. All these calls are responded to, initially, as an emergency (blue lights) until the call is fully assessed.
This system is no fault of any individual staff group or Trust as a whole, but it is a poor government policy implemented with targets, not patients, in mind.
Health unions have been campaigning endlessly to have this issue addressed, but the requests fall on deaf ears at the DoH.
Until such time as the 'call connect' system is dropped, and call takers are allowed to judge the severity of the call before sending an ambulance out under emergency conditions, we will continue to see more and more flashy yellow vans whizzing about, and regrettably under the law of averages, there are likely to be further accidents."