PARAMEDICS have given a mixed response to news that Hampshire's under-pressure ambulance service will recruit more staff to cut response times.

The service, hit by a string of problems over the last two months, will employ 24 new ambulance technicians who will eventually become paramedics after a year's training.

But some staff say they cannot afford to wait that long, claiming that if the current crisis is to be overcome they must have trained staff now.

One leading paramedic from Southampton said today: "Training these technicians will take too long and although it will ease the pressure we will remain short-staffed in the meantime.

"What the public want to see, and what we really want, are more fully qualified paramedics who are trained to save lives - and soon."

But Robbie Brown, operations manager at Hightown station, disagreed. He believes the new staff will have an immediate impact on the poorest response times in the area.

"If I am on the scene of an emergency it takes a lot of pressure off me to have an able pair of hands to help me out.

"Technicians still have to meet a basic level of training, and that makes them far more useful than a member of the general public in that situation.

"I am sure it will help cut response times and make us more efficient. Paramedics all have to start somewhere and working as a technician is the first step. It helps build confidence and skills which are vital when you are a paramedic out on your own."

The new staff will assist paramedics on the scene, carrying out minor procedures and acting as an extra pair of hands for the paramedic staff.

Last week the Daily Echo revealed how an ambulance driver had to ask an untrained assistant to drive an ambulance to hospital because the patient, a young baby, needed treatment en route.