MERSEYSIDE’S ambulance service is being hit by a major staff shortage, with 120 jobs vacant.

Ambulance are left unused because rostered shifts cannot be covered, and as a consequence patients are not being attended to quickly enough.

Unions claim the service has been down by as many as 21 ambulances at a time in Merseyside and Cheshire.

And they said staff are stressed and fearful about the winter months as an expected new phase of the swine flu pandemic approaches.

Across the whole of the North West Ambulance Service, which provides all of Merseyside’s ambulance provision, there are 120 A&E crew vacancies and it is expected they will not be filled until January.

Staff are working overtime to cover shifts, but it is not enough to fill the gaps.

The Trust says it is facing "significant challenges" because of the vacancies, a rise in 999 calls and training commitments. At the moment, 400 front-line staff are being recruited and trained to solve the problem.

Merseyside’s regional organiser for the Ambulance Service Union (ASU), Ray Carrick, said: "It is causing a lot of concern.

"Paramedics are stressed because there isn’t enough of them and workers in Liverpool’s control room are very concerned as well.

"When they get calls from the public they often know they will not be able to get an ambulance to them in time.

"We were 21 vehicles down on September 27 and struggled the weekend before.

"There is no reason why these vacancies have not been filled. We cannot understand why management hasn’t acted, it is staggering.