THE DORSET Ambulance Service has been accused of fiddling the books to meet new targets for 999 response times.

Staff allege that results are being manipulated to ensure the service reaches the national targets for responding to emergency calls.

Following a whistle-blowing letter, Dorset & Somerset Health Authority has announced that it is conducting an inquiry.

Dorset Ambulance's NHS Trust's chief executive John Cape has stepped aside voluntarily while the external review team investigates a string of concerns.

In a statement, Dorset & Somerset Health Authority said: "Concerns have been expressed about the management arrangements, management style and reporting of information within the Dorset Ambulance NHS Trust, and an external team is being established to conduct a review."

It said Mr Cape was keen to assist the external team and had voluntarily taken a secondment within the Dorset & Somerset Health Authority while the review takes place.

In a letter to the Commission for Health Improvement, which is also conducting a routine independent review due in October, ambulance crews in Poole had claimed that there was a culture of "defensiveness and blame" and that crews in Poole were "completely demoralised."

The revelations came only weeks after Dorset Ambulance admitted that staff morale had been a major factor in it receiving only a one-star rating from the Department of Health.

Dorset has been amongst the best in the country at reaching category A life-threatening 999 emergencies within the government's target time of eight minutes.

The new national response standard requires that 75 per cent of such calls be answered within that time.

But all is not as it seems, according to staff who say: "Over the last few years we know that Dorset Ambulance performance has deteriorated".

Concerns

In the letter, they claim that patient reports were regularly altered so as to re-classify calls. Calls that were originally treated as category A calls were downgraded to B and C in order to influence monthly statistics, they allege.

Other concerns expressed include low training standards, response vehicles sitting idle when ambulances are short, sub-standard equipment and shifts not being covered.

The letter forms part of the response given to the Commission for Health (CHI) Improvement when it conducted a review asking staff and the public about their experiences with the ambulance service.

A spokesman for the CHI said the letter would be considered and a report was due to be published in early October.

Roger Ferre, acting chief executive for Dorset Ambulance, said: "CHI have this letter along with all the other comments from staff.

"We are waiting for the CHI report. Until then, it is difficult to comment sensibly."