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The NHS has spent £235million in three years hiring ambulances.

That is how much taxpayers have forked out since 2015 to private firms who handle 999 calls and general patient transport, figures obtained by the GMB union from England’s 10 ambulance trusts show.

They are needed as cover because of a shortage of health service paramedics.

The bill has emerged after we revealed last week how a crew from private ambulance firm Amvale Medical Transport turned up to a family’s 999 call with a broken defibrillator .

Heart attack victim Trevor Moncrieff died later in hospital.

Now a new report by the Care Quality Commission raises serious concerns over standards at some of these firms.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

Its report last week said inspections of 70 independent ambulance organisations in 2017 unearthed a string of worries – including lack of vital equipment maintenance and staff training, and poor infection control.

It highlighted rule breaches over “safe care and treatment”.

Union bosses say all ambulances should be NHS-run.

The GMB’S Rachel Harrison said: “We have members at these firms who tell us of overworked, untrained underpaid staff and poorly maintained ambulances.

“The money spent on them should have gone on recruitment of NHS ambulance staff and new vehicles.”

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

Dr Adrian Boyle, of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said overcrowded A&Es are partly to blame as NHS ambulances get caught up in queues, creating a need for private cover.

South Central Ambulance Service spent the most on hiring last year – £29.3million.

Analysis of job vacancies in April found ambulance services short of almost 1,000 front line staff.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth blamed “years of Tory austerity” for “pushing services to the brink”.

A spokesman for NHS Improvement said: “The NHS is investing in the ambulance service. Earlier this year we announced a £36million funding boost to buy 256 new vehicles.”