article_snippet.sent: Patients are being put at risk because paramedics are leaving firemen to deal with 999 calls, healthcare leaders warn.
article_snippet.sent: yet Many firemen are being left to care for seriously ill elderly patients for hours while Many firemen wait for an ambulance.
article_snippet.sent: the ambulance service is becoming increasingly reliant on firemen to attend life-threatening emergencies .
article_snippet.sent: the ambulance service is facing unprecedented demand from the rising and aging population and in some areas 999 calls are up by 15 per cent on last year.
article_snippet.sent: Paramedics are also having to respond to rising numbers of non-urgent calls from patients frustrated that patients cannot get an appointment with patients GP.
article_snippet.sent: patients are also having to waste much of patients time queued up outside A&E units which cannot accept patients patients because staff there are also very busy.
article_snippet.sent: This has all led to the ambulance service increasingly relying on firemen to attend potentially life-threatening emergencies.
article_snippet.sent: The Fire Brigades Union yesterday warned that South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue were sending firemen with no medical training to 999 calls instead of ambulances.
article_snippet.sent: It is irresponsible and dangerous to put untrained firefighters in the position of attending incidents to assist the ambulance service, with the knowledge that it is highly unlikely one will arrive for some considerable time.'
highlights_snippet.sent: But becoming more common as ambulance service is so overstretched .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Ambulance service facing huge demand from rising and aging population .
  Led to Ambulance service facing huge demand from rising and aging population .
   
highlights_snippet.sent: relying more on firemen to attend life threatening emergencies .