Ambulance improvement welcomed

For some years, ever since a series of poor ambulance responses to emergency calls locally were experienced, representatives of Audlem Parish Council and Audlem Parish Plan have been meeting NWAS senior managers.

The aim has been to improve response times and ensure the highest level of training for Audlem's Community First Responders (CFRs).

The quarterly meetings were attended, and normally chaired, by the two local MPs, Stephen O'Brien and Edward Timpson. Several representatives of Nantwich Town Council and the Nantwich First Responder, Gavin Palin, plus the director of finance for the local Primary Care Trust, have also been involved.

The NWAS has been represented by their chief executive Darren Hurrell, who took up that post a couple of years ago, or another director of the ambulance service.

The latest meeting was on 25th November when it was reported that 81% of 643 Nantwich emergency calls were being met within 8 minutes and 97.4% within 19 minutes.

In Audlem, the calls were obviously less in number and the response figures, perhaps inevitably, less impressive but 31% of 48 calls in the April/October period were responded to in 8 minutes. 95% of the calls were met within 19 minutes, the standard Audlem has always sought recognising the reality of distances from Nantwich and Leighton Hospital.

Mike Hill, of Audlem Parish Council, expressed himself content with those response times.

When these meetings began, there were examples of 999 calls in Audlem taking an hour or more before the ambulance arrived.

Audlem's representatives have been pressing for local Responders to be trained to the highest level so they can answer a wider ranger of calls than at present. Darren Hurrell confirmed there was no problem in getting CFRs in Audlem trained up. 

Exact dates for Audlem training dates will be supplied – this being chased up at present and the local MPs are to be informed of this date.  NWAS confirmed that, especially in areas like Audlem, CFRs are considered a significant asset.

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