MORE paramedics could soon be racing to emergencies on motorcycles after a trial in the region showed that they are much faster than traditional ambulances.

And ambulance staff in busy cities could be issued with bicycles in a bid to beat congestion.

Officials from the North-East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said they were delighted by the trial scheme, which saw powerful motorcycles pressed into use as "rapid response vehicles".

Bosses ordered the bikes after statistics showed that the service was lagging behind in required response times for reaching 999 calls.

The North-East now has ten motorcycle mounted paramedics and the move has paid dividends.

The latest statistics, for last month, show that the service is only two percentage points away from meeting the targets, introduced in April, for responding to life-threatening cases.

Paramedics reached 73 per cent of category A call-outs within the specified eight minutes, a half-a-per-cent improvement on the previous month. The national target is 75 per cent.

For B and C category calls - urgent, but not life-threatening - the rapid response units have helped the service improve on national targets, with paramedics reaching 96 per cent of call-outs. The national target is 95.

Paul Liversidge, director of accident and emergency services for NEAS, said: "Without a doubt, the rapid response units have made a real difference.

We have improved month-on-month since November and we are heading in the right direction."

The service, which covers County Durham, Northumberland, Tyneside and Wearside, is so pleased with the performance of bikes and cars that it is considering increasing the number of hours that they are deployed.

The main role of rapid response vehicles, which also include a fleet of small Mercedes A Class cars, is to get to a life-threatening situation as quickly as possible and to stabilise the patient until a fully-equipped ambulance can reach the scene.

But rather than being left idle, the bikes and cars are also regularly used to respond to non-life-threatening call-outs.

Meanwhile, experiments in York, Harrogate, and Scarborough, North Yorkshire, have shown that bicycles may be an even faster way to reach casualties.

The "ambubikes" are fitted with sirens, flashing lights, medical equipment, a radio and a heart defibrillator. Patients are treated by the rider, then taken to hospital by ambulance.

In York, trials have shown that bicycles can reach emergencies faster than a petrol- powered vehicle and well within Government response times. A further scheme is planned for Middlesbrough and soon bicycles could be a part of every ambulance service.

Paul Brown, who is responsible for managing the York scheme, said: "In the first three months a push bike beat the ambulance every time. It's a tremendous scheme."