THERE is an emergency in our county. But rather than one the ambulance service can rush to help, it is instead hindering its work.

The crisis is housing and pay and the impact is being felt across all sectors of Oxfordshire.

The latest service to be hit by the lack of affordable homes and its associated problems are our paramedics.

Faced with the rising cost of living, soaring house prices and low wages, would-be responders are not signing up for South Central Ambulance Service.

They are quite understandably looking elsewhere, to regions where they can buy a home and make a life rather than spend their hard-earned wages on rent to just scrape by.

With a recruitment crisis on its doorstep, SCAS has had to look to the private sector more and more to provide the vital cover needed. It is an unwanted and reluctant privatisation of the people who we rely on to save our lives in an emergency.

And with privatisation comes a lack of the accountability that is the cornerstone of our health service.

The fear is that private services put profit before people and are not subject to the same public scrutiny that our NHS ambulance services are.

The harrowing story of Caron Kiernan, who was pronounced dead prematurely by private ambulance staff, only adds to the public’s fears.

We have been here many times before, with housing assessments, councils negotiating and Green Belt land identified.

What is clear is that something needs to be done soon or else more services will be hit and the crisis will only get worse.