NW Ambulance Service

Press release


North West Ambulance Service declares a major incident as dozens of 999 calls are left on hold with crews 'run ragged' after 'several paramedics isolated due to coronavirus'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8906835/North-West-Ambulance-Service-declares-major-incident-dozens-999-calls-left-hold.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailUK

I'm not entirely surprised by this. A few weeks ago I was watching a reality show called "Ambulance." For those that have not seen the show, was centred around the North West Ambulance Service, and recorded in pre-Covid times. Even then, the Major Incident situation was declared on a number of occasions.

The simple fact is that the NWAS is seriously underfunded, as for that matter so are NW Hospitals. Some examples from the series. Target time for an ambulance to be in attendance after a call is 18 minutes. Several people were asked to get to hospital on their own, others had to wait several hours, some even gave up and cancelled the call. Compare that to somewhere like Germany. There, ambulances are required by law to be in attendance within 12 minutes.

As for the hospitals. The RAEI can only cope with 3 cardiac arrests (according to the shows commentator) at one time. On one occasion, a fourth had to be taken from the Wigan area to Salford. Riduculous! Some crews were kept waiting in A&E for 3 or 4 hours to get their patient admitted, thus keeping them from attending other, possibly more urgent calls.

I could continue...

Ambulance, iplayer.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nxmk/ambulance-series-6-episode-7

About 4 years ago we were sat in our back garden when we heard the sound of a road accident at the rear of us . We went up to see if we could help . A large tractor had emerged from the small lane behind us onto the main road , and collided with a car travelling on that main road . The lady passenger appeard to have broken her arm near her wrist .
No ambulances were available in the whole of Mid Wales , so they sent the air ambulance from Hereford 43 miles away which "dropped " in our back field and flew the woman with "only" a broken arm back to Hereford.
The health minister at the time , was the gobs**** who is now in charge of Wales . This was not an isolated incident . It has improved slightly , when I had my last stroke an ambulance arrived about 25 minutes after the call and then transported me to .....Hereford 43 miles away . The ambulance personnel and medical staff are / were/ still are BRILLIANT . ( Sorry Admin ) but the Admin is still not fit for purpose . So if they cannot cope with quiet rural areas , how do they cope withe large admin areas .????

If the 'ambulance' service was run as an 'ambulance' service (like it used to be), it would be more efficient.

'Ambulance' (meaning)  -  a vehicle equipped for taking sick or injured people to and from hospital, especially in emergencies.

Do you mean as opposed to transporting people to Robin Park for shopping experience ?