AMBULANCE bosses have revealed paramedics are to be monitored by supervisors on 999 calls.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) has introduced clinical supervisors to ride with their paramedics.
Vince Larvin, of YAS, revealed details of the scheme to Hull's Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission at the Guildhall.
He said: "Instead of taking paramedics back into the classroom, clinical supervisors will ride with them and assess them throughout the day.
"This will ensure they are up to speed with their skills."
However, paramedics have voiced their concern over on-the-job assessment as they deal with emergency calls.
One, who asked not to be named to protect their job, said: "Continuous training is fine, but some of us are concerned about how these assessments can be carried out while the supervisors are driving.
"They can't assess us on how we deal with patients in the back while they're driving in the front.
"The clinical supervisors are good staff, well-motivated and well-trained, but they are not qualified instructors and are unable to give us training."
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are to be asked by Unite the Union to look into the issue of training within Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
The paramedic said: "We are supposed to get four 'stand down' days a year for training but that is not happening.
"We are supposed to get personal development reviews once a year but they are just not happening.
"These reviews check if our skills and knowledge are up-to-date as well as highlight any weaknesses and look at our aspirations from the year before to see if we have met our goal, but they are not being carried out.
"It seems all the focus is on meeting emergency call targets and staff physically don't have the time for training."
Last week, Yorkshire Ambulance Service revealed almost one-third of 999 calls to deal with life-threatening emergencies are not being reached within the eight- minute target.
However, the figure is much better in East Yorkshire, with more than 73 per cent of "red calls" meeting the target.
At a board meeting of YAS held in Hull, chief executive David Whiting admitted response time targets were "challenging" but had to be seen against the backdrop of an increasing number of 999 calls in the past year.
Concern has also been raised over the decision to split two-man paramedic crews into one paramedic and an emergency care assistant.
However, Mr Larvin said on 999 calls involving multiple casualties, clinical supervisors would be a bonus.
"In a multiple patient scenario, the supervisor will work as part of a crew," he said.
