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London Ambulance chiefs are battling to secure government funding for specialist paramedic teams equipped to respond to terror attacks, the Standard can reveal.

The cash-strapped service says that £5.3 million needed to run the crack squads is “at risk” of not being received from national funds.

The specially trained paramedics, including those ready to respond to a MTFA (marauding terrorist firearms attack), were among 68 LAS staff who responded to the Westminster atrocity last Wednesday.

LAS chairwoman Heather Lawrence said she hoped the fast and effective response would encourage the Government to come forward with the money.

She said: “As a consequence of last week, the fact we don’t have confirmation of that emergency resilience funding [is disappointing].”

LAS normally receives extra NHS England funding for its specialist teams, which also include HART (hazardous area response team) and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear), but fears having to draw on its funding for routine patient care to keep them running.

This comes at a time it is set to post a £7 million deficit at the end of the current financial year, and when it faces having to make almost £18 million of savings from the next financial year.

The MTFA team members carry body armour and helmets and undergo training on providing immediate medical interventions.

Ambulance chiefs have been deliberately vague about the staff who responded to the Westminster attack, in which police officer Keith Palmer, mother-of-two Aysha Frade, US tourist Kurt Cochran and retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes died, but said they had trained for such an event.

LAS operations director Paul Woodrow said: “We deployed a number of specialist teams, HART being one of them, and additional specialised teams to deal with the incident.”

LAS medical director Fenella Wrigley said: “The staff did an exceptionally good job. They were calm and provided very good clinical care. I remain very proud and grateful to our staff for all they did under extremely difficult circumstances.”

It is understood that NHS Improvement, the quango that supports trusts in special measures such as LAS, and NHS England’s London office are supporting the bid for national funds.

LAS interim chief executive Andrew Grimshaw said: “I think there is significant pressure already being escalated through the system.”

A NHS England spokeswoman said £2 million was agreed in principle earlier this year and the remainder was expected to be forthcoming.