AN investigation into a secret project to delay ambulances by an NHS trust has been branded a whitewash.

NHS England inspectors said they could not work out which senior managers were responsible for the project run by South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) NHS Trust or who made specific decisions to keep it hidden.

Secamb chief executive Paul Sutton apologised following the publication of the report yesterday, adding the scheme had been implemented at a time of high demand.

An eight-day-old baby and a patient suffering an obvious stroke were among up to 20,000 patients whose ambulances were delayed as part of the trust’s experiment.

Executives ran their project - without approval - to delay sending ambulances until advisers had time to assess some calls coming through the 111 telephone system.

National rules state 75 per cent of Category A Red 2 calls should have an emergency response at the scene within eight minutes.

These calls are for conditions regarded as serious such as strokes or fits.

Under the project, the ambulance trust gave itself up to 10 extra minutes to reassess what type of advice or treatment patients needed, and whether an ambulance was really necessary.

However, patients were kept in the dark about the project, as were 111 call handlers and the trust's board.

The report by NHS England could not confirm which executives implemented the project.

The report concluded: "Because of the lack of documentation and the lack of information provided at interview, we have not been able to understand who made certain decisions or if they were issues that had been considered."

Staff who raised fears that patients would be harmed were told by senior executives it was the "right thing" to do, the report found.

It took serious incidents to be recorded for local managers from the region's clinical commissioning group to start investigations.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “The findings of this report are very damning and paint a worrying picture.

"These decisions placed the public at risk and their actions were completely inexcusable. This is a whitewash and a major scandal."

The Patients Association is now calling for an independent investigation into what it described as a "serious failure of care".

Secamb chief executive Paul Sutton said: "Patient safety is fundamental to what we do.

"As paramedics, we come to work to save lives and we would never do anything to deliberately put patients at risk.

"We recognise that the proper processes were not fully followed in setting up the project and we do apologise for this.

"The decision was made during a time of high patient demand and the pilot was undertaken to ensure that we were able to respond promptly to the most seriously ill patients during this time.”

The regulator Monitor is running its own investigation into the incident, which happened last winter.

The Argus:

CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY ON PROJECT AUTHORISATION

AN MP and health watchdog groups have spoken of their concerns about the action taken by Secamb.

Hove MP Peter Kyle said: “Patient safety was clearly jeopardised by this unauthorised trial the ambulance trust operated.

“We now need clear accountability on who took the decision to authorise this project and assurances that nobody locally was put at direct harm by being forced to wait longer for an ambulance.”

Healthwatch West Sussex said it was also concerned about the safety implications for patients.

Chairwoman Frances Russell said: “We must not forget there are people and families who have been affected by the project.

“We welcome the trust’s commitment to seeing that there are greater operational procedures and governance in place when handling increased demands on the 111 and 999 services.

“It is important the public feel confident they will get the urgent care and attention they need in a life-threatening situation.”

Healthwatch West Sussex continually collects feedback and stories about health and social care services from patients and service users, including those who have used the 111 and 999 services, but they are keen to hear from others.

Ms Russell said: “We need to hear from individuals or their families who have used the emergency services.

“We want to know about their experiences, and whether they want to praise, criticise or share ideas for improvement.

“We aim to use that feedback to ensure that the patient voice is central to decisions that affect the service in future.”