West Midlands Ambulance changes ‘putting lives at risk’
Lives are being put at risk after an ambulance response point was removed, a council boss has warned.
Cannock Chase has now been left with no response or standby points for ambulances after the last one, at Delta Way, was removed.
Councillor George Adamson, leader of the district council, said the move was ‘making people in Cannock Chase second-class NHS citizens’ and also warned lives were being put at risk.
West Midlands Ambulance Service says the change can ‘only be a good thing for patients’ as it looks to reduce the number of rapid response vehicles while increasing the number of ambulances. But councillor Adamson said he was less than impressed by the move.
“I think it is making people in Cannock Chase second-class NHS citizens and putting them at risk,” he said.
“With the roadworks going on in Cannock Chase over the summer it will be really difficult for ambulances to get to emergencies in eight minutes from the standby point in Chase Terrace.”
The ambulance service, in a statement, said it was reducing the number of standby points but increasing the number of ambulances in its fleet, compared to the number of rapid response vehicles.
The statement adds: “This is because of the trust’s determination to have a paramedic on every vehicle – and therefore we have an ever increasing number of paramedics working for us.
“By having more ambulances, it ensures that patients are able to be transported to hospital straight away when required, rather than having to wait for a second vehicle to arrive if a rapid response car has arrived on scene first.
“It is important to understand that standby points are exactly what the title suggests.
“They are not ambulance hubs where vehicles are permanently based, they are simply used as a base if we have vehicles with no jobs to attend.”
The service said that at any given time, on any day, it could have between 270-330 ambulances in operation within the West Midlands.
The statement adds: “The majority of those will be either attending to a patient, or transporting a patient to hospital,
“There will be some that are not currently on a 999 job, and therefore will be given a standby point to head to, to await the next call.
“Given the level of demand on the trust, more often than not, a job will be assigned to the crew before they reach the standby point.”
