Thoughts from a local resident on ambulances

Last week, when we reported on the visit to Audlem of the North West Ambulance Service, we asked for comments from readers. A correspondent has written, raising a number of pertinent points

He says: "The number of ambulances that are on duty in the surrounding area was at peak times. What may we ask is the deployment in non- peak times? Most people are at their most vulnerable and tend to die in the early hours of the morning with things like heart attacks, strokes etc. Most bad car accidents seem to happen in the late evening and early hours of the morning. So attending one of these will affect the ability to react in reasonable time to another emergency if the cover is stretched."

"When we look into the Primary Care Trusts it is a confusing situation with regards to who controls what. Who is responsible for the representation given to the rural areas on the borders of a trust. The trust that appears to be responsible for Audlem is so far away that most decision makers probably do not know that we exist, nor know our requirements."

"When I was involved with the cardio primary care trust, Audlem and its association with the nearest hospital, Leighton, was of little consequence as the focus of debate was mainly Chester, The Wirral and surrounding areas. This beggars the question, why oh why are we lumped in with the Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust and not the Central Cheshire Trust which includes Crewe and Nantwich? Maybe only the GP's will know the answer to that one. I feel that as a result of this alignment the village is marginalized when the big decisions are made."

"With regard to the allocation of ambulance resources, as I understood the comments made at the Community Action Meeting, it appears to be worked out on the number of calls received, the greater the number of calls the greater the resource that is allocated to the area. So if we look at this with respect to the North West Ambulance Service area, we include Manchester, Blackpool, Liverpool, Warrington and lots of other large conurbations, all with extensive nightlife."

"As seen on the television, there is a very significant call on the Ambulance Service as a result of drink related injuries and fights. If this is weighed in with the call on the Service related to normal medical emergencies, it is no wonder that the rural areas have been given the "short end of the stick" as we do not have the disruptive behaviour factor to be accounted for in the overall equation. Hence we don't get an ambulance as quickly as a drunken yob in Liverpool!!!"

"Now let's have a quick look at the 'Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust'. We appear to have :-

1) The Board- Consisting of 16 individuals none of which appear to have any responsibility for coordination for the Ambulance Service.

2) The Clinical Advisory Board (Professional Executive Committee):-- Consisting of 18 members. Again none of which appear to have any responsibility for Ambulance coordination.

3) Then we have another Board – The Top Management Team of the PCT. This consists of 11 individuals, again none of which appear to have any responsibility for Ambulance coordination."

"Of all these people they are all 'stamped with the NHS seal of approval', apparently not worked outside the NHS and are therefore possibly blinded to other approaches of management that may be able to resolve problems and save loads of money."

"It has to be asked, why does the Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust need all these directors? It may be more than the entire boards for British Airways and BP put together. Or is it safety in numbers? What do all these people do and how do the decision processes work as there appears to me to be too many cooks to boil an egg, let alone make an omelette!"

"With a board make up and structure as stated on their website, it's a miracle that the service runs at all, let alone considerations with respect to emergency ambulance cover for a little insignificant village in a far flung rural area in the back of beyond!"

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.