Local MP backs Audlem residents over ambulance concerns

Eddisbury MP, Stephen O'Brien, the Shadow Minister for Health, has written to the Secretary of State for Health and the Chief Executive of the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), to raise his serious concerns about ambulance response times for Audlem and the Nantwich District – which are the third worst in the country.

In the letter Mr O'Brien has also invited the Chief Executive to come and address the people of Audlem at an open public meeting and explain why the service being provided is proving to be so poor. The Eddisbury MP is demanding an explanation why local people are being forced to wait for in some cases more than an hour for an ambulance.

Stephen O'Brien said: "It has been brought to my attention that on a number of occasions now some people in the Audlem and Nantwich area who have called 999 for an ambulance have been waiting for an hour or even longer for the paramedics to turn up."

"I find it totally unacceptable that people are being served so poorly by the NWAS, especially when the Government promised that the re-organised regional ambulance service would be more efficient than the structures it was replacing. For people living in Audlem and the Nantwich district, the proof is in the pudding and the new structure is failing to deliver the improvements that were promised."

"This comes less than a year since I went specially to the NWAS Headquarters myself to challenge the then interim Chief Executive about poor response times covering all the southern rural areas of the Eddisbury constituency, including Audlem. I received categoric assurances then – so I am horrified by these latest incidents."

"I realise that the ambulance service has got to prioritise to make best use of its resources, but a wait of an hour or longer is intolerable. Categorising casualties on a traffic light system – red for urgent – amber intermediate risk and green for non life threatening cases – places an over reliance on the accuracy of an initial diagnosis over the phone. This system is too dependent on the information provided by the person who is calling and describing a person's condition – particularly in the case of the very young and elderly – which, can deteriorate rapidly in some cases. No one, not even on a so called green – non life threatening call out should be waiting for an hour or more for an ambulance, it is absolutely appalling. That is why in medical circles the golden hour is considered to be so important."

"Accordingly I have written to the Secretary of State for Health and The Chief Executive of the NWAS, to make them aware of my serious concerns and calling for urgent action to tackle the inadequacies that exists in the Audlem and Nantwich area."

"Additionally, I have invited the Chief Executive of the NWAS to come to Audlem and attend an open public meeting and explain why some people are waiting so long for an ambulance and what action is going to be taken to tackle poor response times in our area."

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