Fire crews are being given two days' medical training

Firefighters in London are voting on whether to take industrial action in a row over answering medical calls.

The Fire Brigades Union said members were being forced to attend cases normally handled by ambulance services.

Firefighters in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets are refusing to train for medical duties and the union wants to spread the action across London.

The London Fire Brigade said the scheme would support not replace the ambulance service and would help save more lives.

The partnership scheme with London Ambulance Service (LAS) would involve some fire engines being equipped with automated defibrillators - electronic devices that can stimulate a failing heart.


The aim is that firefighters stabilise cardiac arrest victims until trained paramedics arrive.



Fire brigade commissioner Ken Knight

According to the union, firefighters are being offered a two-day training course which officials said was not enough to deal with life-threatening conditions.

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) executive council member for London Mick Shaw said: "This dispute is not about firefighters refusing to use defibrillators.

"It is about firefighters not wanting to be ordered to attend a range of medical emergencies for which they will not be adequately trained, at the expense of providing a proper fire service.

"We do not want industrial action."

400 calls a year

Fire brigade commissioner Ken Knight said: "The aim is to work with the ambulance service to improve the survival rates of heart attack victims and we know from colleagues around the country that existing co-responder schemes make a real difference in saving lives.

"The aim is that firefighters stabilise cardiac arrest victims until trained paramedics arrive."

A spokesman for the LAS said under the proposed scheme, fire appliances would only be sent to incidents in addition to ambulances when serious calls were received - when the patient was reported to be unconscious and believed not to be breathing.

"Based on our statistics we would anticipate these to total no more than 400 calls during the length of the proposed year-long trial and there is certainly no intention to request firefighters to attend other medical emergencies," said a spokesman.

The industrial action is likely to involve the refusal to attend training sessions or handle medical equipment.