Welsh Republican Comment- Ambulances
Successful calls by Plaid for a public inquiry have followed the publication of a report by the former head of the Welsh ambulance service warning that 500 lives a year were being lost because of inadequate equipment and drugs. The inquiry has been launched after Dr Brian Gibbons wrongly voted against his own Labour administration in an Assembly vote. Roger Thayne resigned as interim chief executive of the service last month over the problems facing the service, and went on to publish a report warning that £35 million was needed to bring it up to an acceptable standard of operation. "The Welsh ambulance service does not and cannot in the near future provide a safe, responsive, reliable and clinically sound service to the public of Wales," the report said. It added: "Trauma care is poor and staff carry inadequate equipment and drugs necessary to safeguard life. The result is that, as a conservative estimate, some 500 lives are needlessly lost in Wales every year." The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust was established on April 1, 1998 and has 2,500 staff providing ambulance and related services to the 2.9 million residents of Wales. Plaid’s Shadow Health Minister and Llanelli AM Helen Mary Jones, who led her party’s debate on the Ambulance service in the Senedd commented: “Plaid recognise that ambulance staff are doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances, they have to work with out dated equipment and vehicles." Welsh Republican Comment's Assistant Manager David Jeffries added "there's a consensus emerging that an all-Wales authority over the Ambulance service is wrong because of the diverse needs in rural versus urban areas and the different needs and communities in different parts of Wales. It has been identified that this is a structural problem in managing the resourses of the ambulance trust." "Clearly, the first step is to ensure strict financial controls are imposed upon the ambulance service in the way it budgets for its targets to ensure that the £35 million of urgently needed funds are prioritised in key strategy areas. Cymru is a community of communities and it is the varying needs of these communities that the ambulance service needs to meet. This calls for greater cultural awareness from the Ambulance Board as they persue a policy of true diversity in service delivery".
Successful calls by Plaid for a public inquiry have followed the publication of a report by the former head of the Welsh ambulance service warning that 500 lives a year were being lost because of inadequate equipment and drugs. The inquiry has been launched after Dr Brian Gibbons wrongly voted against his own Labour administration in an Assembly vote. Roger Thayne resigned as interim chief executive of the service last month over the problems facing the service, and went on to publish a report warning that £35 million was needed to bring it up to an acceptable standard of operation. "The Welsh ambulance service does not and cannot in the near future provide a safe, responsive, reliable and clinically sound service to the public of Wales," the report said. It added: "Trauma care is poor and staff carry inadequate equipment and drugs necessary to safeguard life. The result is that, as a conservative estimate, some 500 lives are needlessly lost in Wales every year." The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust was established on April 1, 1998 and has 2,500 staff providing ambulance and related services to the 2.9 million residents of Wales. Plaid’s Shadow Health Minister and Llanelli AM Helen Mary Jones, who led her party’s debate on the Ambulance service in the Senedd commented: “Plaid recognise that ambulance staff are doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances, they have to work with out dated equipment and vehicles." Welsh Republican Comment's Assistant Manager David Jeffries added "there's a consensus emerging that an all-Wales authority over the Ambulance service is wrong because of the diverse needs in rural versus urban areas and the different needs and communities in different parts of Wales. It has been identified that this is a structural problem in managing the resourses of the ambulance trust." "Clearly, the first step is to ensure strict financial controls are imposed upon the ambulance service in the way it budgets for its targets to ensure that the £35 million of urgently needed funds are prioritised in key strategy areas. Cymru is a community of communities and it is the varying needs of these communities that the ambulance service needs to meet. This calls for greater cultural awareness from the Ambulance Board as they persue a policy of true diversity in service delivery".