By Katie Law BBC Radio 5 Live

Ambulances in some trusts are regularly deep cleaned

Paramedics have told Radio 5 Live that they're not being provided with proper equipment.

Instead they are having to resort to household products like Flash and Mr Muscle to clean their vehicles.

Sometimes they even buy the cleaning materials themselves, and claim they're given insufficient time and training to get the ambulances as clean as they should be.

One of the country's leading experts in hospital infections, Dr Mark Enright, said the claims were "extremely worrying".

'Laden with MRSA'

One paramedic from the North West of England, who does not want to be named, explained how time pressures make it hard for him to do his job.

"We're doing a basic wipe over of the ambulance - we're just wiping the sides, wiping the stretcher, and just doing our best with what we've got," he said.

"We could start the cleaning and we start taking stuff off and we get a call and we've got to put it all back again and off we go."

I come regularly onto ambulances and find traces of blood, dirty floors, linen that hasn't been changed Paramedic, North East of England Dirty ambulance warning

The lack of time and adequate cleaning products mean that he fears his ambulance could be spreading infections.

"It's got to be laden with MRSA, because we're not cleaning them properly, and that goes throughout the service," he said.

"We use Mr Muscle to clean with. I have no idea whether it kills MRSA. All we're doing is cleaning the ambulance and making it look cleaner and smell better."

'An absolute disgrace'

Another paramedic from the North West with over 20 years of experience on the job remembers that it used to be different when he started work.

"You used to get time set aside and you'd strip the whole thing out and gut the whole vehicle. Now that just does not happen," he said.

Where he works, it's so difficult to get hold of appropriate cleaning products that they sometimes resort to taking alcohol wipes from the casualty ward without permission.

"You try to clean it but with whatever limited resources you can find. You're looking at a sort of minging dirty old mop and washing up liquid.

"I don't deem that appropriate for cleaning an ambulance in any way shape or form."

His concern is on behalf of the patients he has to transport.

"Seeing as we are the first port of call for many people going into casualty, the back of ambulances is an absolute disgrace," he said.

"I would hate to think if a spot check were done what you'd find if you did swabs on the back of an ambulance."

'Skanky mops'

Another paramedic from the North East of England is also concerned for his patients.

"As a paramedic I would expect that the environment that I treat my patients in would be a place that that's safe and free from infection.

"However I come regularly onto ambulances and find traces of blood, dirty floors, linen that hasn't been changed."

He agreed that the equipment available to keep his ambulance clean isn't up to much.

"There's bleach, some wipes that we carry on the ambulance which are supposed to kill some germs but have not been proven to get rid of MRSA or C. difficile or many other bugs, there's flash spray fluid and then there's basically some very skanky mops," he said.

"They are really quite filthy - they're not replaced more than maybe every 8 to 12 months."