Ambulance Service report (Kirsty Williams AM )

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Kirsty Williams AM <info@kirstywilliams.org.uk>

Ambulance Service report

January 30, 2007 9:24 AM

Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, Kirsty Williams, has expressed her concern at the performance of the ambulance service trust in rural areas.

Her comments come following the publication of a report into the trust by the Wales Audit Office, which showed there had been a consistent failure to achieve performance targets.

Ms Williams said: "In Powys, only 44 per cent of category A calls - emergency life-threatening calls - are reached within the target time of eight minutes. That is ten per cent below the Welsh average. We have regularly seen police patrol cars picking up casualties because ambulances have failed to arrive, and I know that ambulances based in Ystradgynlais, for example, are often forced to respond to calls in Glasbury or Newbridge-on-Wye because of the lack of paramedic cover in these rural areas. This is no criticism of the ambulance service staff, who work so hard in what are often very unpleasant conditions, but the fact of the matter is that they have not been given adequate resources to do the job that they are trained to do - that is, save lives.

Kirsty with Ambulance Ystradgynlais "Improvements to A+E departments to ensure ambulances are not held up when delivering patients, and an expanded role for paramedics so that more people can be treated at the scene of an accident, would undoubtedly bring benefits. In rural areas, however, geography dictates that ambulances will never be able to reach many places in eight minutes, and that is why I am also calling for increased funding for the air ambulance service. We have only had an air ambulance in Mid Wales since last June, but it has already responded to 300 calls. It is, shockingly, still reliant on donations to stay airborne however, and to secure its future, and a safer future for all of us, the Assembly Government must commit to investing properly in this service."

Notes:

The Wales Audit Office report Ambulance Services in Wales was debated at the Assembly on Wednesday. Ms Williams spoke in the debate, raising the issues highlighted above. A full copy of the report is available at http://www.wao.gov.uk/assets/englishdocuments/Ambulance%20Inquiry.pdf .

Ms Williams is currently running a petition, calling on the Trust to employ more community paramedics as a way of improving response times in the constituency.