Police in Lewisham last year took patients to hospital on almost 40 separate occasions because ambulances were unavailable, with the figure across London rising to 815 separate occasions. 

Lewisham Police have also been called upon 13 times to transport patients to Hospital so far in 2015 with almost 400 London wide.

This comes after Lewisham Police Tweeted on the 11^th August 2015 that they had made their second call of the night to someone needing to go to hospital, they then tweeted that they “shouldn’t have to do this but sometimes there is no other option.”

The Metropolitan Police have also undergone cuts of 15.8% in the last three years.

Labour MP for Lewisham Deptford, Vicky Foxcroft, stated that “This just shows the immense pressure the emergency services in Lewisham and London are under.”

“We know our Police and Ambulance Service are doing a fantastic job, but they are under resourced and have been let down by this government, whose cuts are having a disastrous impact.”

“We need our local police force to be fighting crime, not filling in for our over stretched ambulance service.”

NOTES

Figures obtained from a freedom of information request to Lewisham MPS on August 18^th 2015.

How many times have police had to utilise Police vehicles to transport patients to Hospital in a) London Borough of Lewisham b) London in i) 2013 ii) 2014 and iii) so far in 2015.