MORE paramedics could soon be racing to emergencies on motorcycles after a North-East trial revealed that they are much faster than traditional ambulances.

And ambulancemen in busy cities could be issued with push-bikes in a bid to beat congestion.

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

Bosses ordered the bikes after statistics showed the service lagging behind national 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 July show that the service is now only two percentage points away from meeting the targets for reaching life-threatening calls that were introduced in April.

Paramedics got to 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 exceed national targets, paramedics reaching 96 per cent of call-outs. The national target is 95.

Paul Liversidge, director of accident and emergency services with 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 they are 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 keeping them idle the bikes and cars are also regularly used to respond to non-life-threatening call-outs.

Meanwhile, experiments in York, Harrogate, and Scarborough have revealed that push bikes 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 on the spot by the rider and taken to hospital by ambulance when it arrives.

In York trials have shown the bikes can reach emergencies faster than a petrol powered vehicle and well withing Government response times of eight minutes.

Now a further scheme is planned for Middlesbrough and soon push bikes could be a part of every ambulance service.

Paul Brown, the man responsible for managing the York scheme, explained: "We found that in 17 per cent of cases patients could be treated on the spot and the ambulance turned back. In the first three months a push bike beat the ambulance every time. It's a tremendous scheme."