Call to improve 999 times
Monday 12th January 2009, 1:31PM GMT.
Ambulance response times in Powys have come under attack by Welsh Assembly members today and urgent action needs to be taken to improve the service, it has been claimed.
They hit out after learning the county had the second worst ambulance response times in Wales.
In November, only 44.6 per cent of immediately life-threatening emergency calls in Powys were reached within the target time of eight minutes.
Montgomeryshire AM Mick Bates said it meant the service in Powys was lagging well behind.
“A much greater improvement is needed if people are to receive the emergency care and treatment that they need,” he said.
Kirsty Williams, AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, said more needed to be done to tackle the problem.
John Howard, chief officer for the Montgomery Community Health Council, said: “It would have been nice to see the ambulance service making some improvements but I don’t think they have been listening.”
A spokeswoman for the Welsh Ambulance Trust said: “A combination of factors affected the trust’s emergency response times in November, including increased demand, delays at hospitals and the need to limit the number of overtime shifts to remain within budget.
She added: “We are continuing to work with hospital trusts and other NHS partners to streamline admissions to A&E departments and to manage demand in different ways.”
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Funny how the Ambulance Service constantly use the same phrases “working with hospital trusts and other NHS partners” etc. They use exactly the same letters when the reply to people who complain in writing!
I’ve seen ambulances delayed outside several hospitals. I’ve never seen a Welsh ambulance officer (or ‘manager’ as they seem to call themselves now) in evidence at any of these troublespots.
It isn’t just the ambulance service that need to be explaining themselves. The Welsh Assembly -for all the concerned talk from AMs – clearly isn’t funding the service properly. Or supervising the clearly weak management of the Service. I understand they still do not speak to the staff either on the ambulances or in their call centres, and if they do they certainly don’t take any notice of them!
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Thw esker the management, the worse the service. No matter what the industry. Ambulance services are held together by the staff. Not management.
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New chief exec team. Same old problems. Same old excuses. Welsh Ambulance service still not performing.
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