Ambulance bosses have launched an investigation into claims crews were diverted from real incidents to fake jobs in a training exercise blunder.

It is alleged paramedics were sent away from genuine jobs and instead dispatched to made-up scenarios last Friday (September 29).

According to reports the incident is said to have happened during a staff training exercise in the North East Ambulance Service’s (NEAS) north control room.

An internal investigation has since been launched with NEAS saying it was “aware of an issue concerning the integration of our training system with live calls”.

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Stephen Segasby, Chief Operating Officer at NEAS said: “We were made aware of an issue concerning the integration of our training system with live calls on Friday afternoon, during staff training. We have begun an investigation to understand the full impact of this issue.

“This investigation is in its early stages, however we are confident that there was no impact upon service delivery at the time.”

It comes after a period of scrutiny for the ambulance service after chiefs were forced to apologise to grieving families after paramedics were accused of hiding medical errors and withholding evidence from coroners at inquests into the deaths of patients.