'Lives being put at risk'.

PATIENTS' lives are being put at risk in the North East by the use of "inadequately-trained" ambulance crews, according to senior paramedics and union bosses.

Concerns have been raised that Emergency Care Support Workers (ECSWs) are being called to cases without a paramedic and their skills are not deemed enough to deal with the emergency.

ECSWs are trained for up to just nine weeks to administer basic emergency treatment.

In Ryhope, Sunderland, as many as three ambulance crews manned only by ECSWs - with no paramedic or advanced technician on board - regularly attend incidents. But health chiefs at the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) say the deployment of ECSWs as a first-response team has dramatically increased the survival rate of cardiac arrest cases.

Trevor Johnson, Unison's lead officer for health, said: "The dispatching of ECSWs without a paramedic is something we have been concerned about for some time and we're currently in discussions with the North East Ambulance Service about the issue."

There are 179 Emergency Care Support Workers in the North East. Their primary task is to give prehospital emergency care to sick or injured people.

Their remit is to assist paramedics, drive blue light ambulances, offer first-aid and operate as a first response to appropriate cases which will be supported by a paramedic.