HAMPSHIRE Ambulance managers are looking at new ways of working as staff unions continue to complain about working conditions.

A statement from the unions' joint committee earlier this month condemned an alleged lack of ambulance cover in the rural south-east and north-east of the county.

They also said a malfunctioning new system and scant ambulance resources meant staff at the communications centre in Winchester were "verbally abused" by the public making emergency calls. They also alleged that new vehicles were failing to come into service on time.

But ambulance service chief executive Richard Mawson has told The Gazette he is confident new steps will improve morale and allow the service to meet its target of responding to 75 per cent of life-threatening calls within eight minutes.

He said: "The traditional model of care will not work and we will have to look at new ones. The whole public sector is going through a difficult period.

Radically changing the way we operate creates tensions at a time when our 999 workload has increased by 12 per cent in a year."

Mr Mawson added that changes being discussed include some less serious 999 calls ceasing to be answered by "flashing light" ambulances, freeing paramedic crews for higher-risk work.

Further ideas are for paramedics to combine their work with other health roles out in the community, while nurses working for the telephone NHS Direct service may become involved in handling emergency calls.

Mr Mawson said a common example of a 999 call that could be dealt with in a different way was that of a patient falling out of bed.

Instead of taking the patient out into the cold to be checked at a hospital A&E department - as happens currently - it might be better to have a separate and dedicated "back to bed service".

Mr Mawson said 17 vehicles will be coming into service shortly, with more flexible configurations. He said it is also likely that some paramedics will be trained to give heart-attack patients so-called clot-busting drugs before they get to hospital.

The problem there, he explained, was that in one out of 200 cases, these drugs made the patient's condition worse, which was a new kind of risk for ambulance staff to take on.

Mr Mawson agreed there had been problems with the new communications centre's computer system and the "grandiose expectations" managers had had of it. But he said the suppliers were now dealing with this.

He also recognised the pressure placed on staff by angry or traumatised members of the public. He said: "It's not unusual for the public to be rude and staff, who are doing a good job, suffer from their frustrations."