AROUND one in seven paramedic posts for the county’s ambulance service remain unfilled.

South East Coast Ambulance service (Secamb) has 138 unfilled paramedic posts for the last financial year – an 30 per cent increase on 2014/15 according to figures obtained by Labour.

Hove MP Peter Kyle said the numbers sent a “shiver down his spine” and called for urgent action.

Unions warned the actual number of vacancies were even higher and claimed the trust’s “adverse publicity” following the highly-controversial 111 trial and being placed in special measures made it even harder to recruit.

Officials at Secamb, which is failing to meet response targets for both Red 1 and Red 2 calls, said there was a national shortage of paramedics affecting all trusts and recruiters were looking as far afield as Australia to tackle the problem.

Ambulance trusts in England had 900 paramedic vacancies in 2015/16 with trusts covering London, the North West and South West all with more than 100 vacancies.

Mr Kyle said: “Our paramedics do a fantastic job day in day out, but there are simply not enough of them.

“These figures send a shiver down my spine and I worry for my constituents while we wait for the Government to sort this out.

“I am calling for them to act now and sort out this disarray before it’s too late.”

Unison steward for Secamb Nigel Sweet said: “The level of vacancy is underestimated, the real level is actually far higher.

“The workforce was previously estimated on the paramedics needed to achieve response times but more recently it has been calculated on the funds allocated to the trust.”

Mr Sweet said well-intentioned Secamb moves to tackle the issue may be affecting patient care.

He said: “Previously critical care paramedics would only go to the most serious incidents such as car accidents or cardiac arrest.

“But now because of the vacancies and shortage of funding, they are being deployed in the same way as any other paramedic so you could argue patients in the most serious cases are not getting the same care they once got.”

A Secamb spokesman said the trust had a comprehensive recruitment strategy and worked closely with universities and on staff clinical development. He said the trust was looking at different countries to recruit from including Australia.