This section features the latest ambulance service news from APAP.
Speed limits for Ambulances
03.02.2010 20:54:43
Further to the article published in the Mail on Line concerning exceeding the speed limit while responding to 999 calls, our Acting General Secretary Matt Whitticombe this afternoon has issued this guidance.
“Staff should continue to respond to 999 calls in the way they were taught in their ambulance dedicated driving course. This means they should claim the exemption afforded to them under the Road Traffic Act and drive in a progressive manner at a speed consistent with the prevailing road and weather conditions at the time.
This invariably results in the speed limit being exceeding while responding to the 999 call. Unless staff receive written notification from their trust, their assessment of the risk whilst claiming this exemption should be confined to matters of safe progression rather than adherence to some unsubstantiated suggestion that they must not exceed the speed limit by more than 10 MPH.
It is to be remembered that all 999 call response times that exceed the national target are subject to official scrutiny and that includes the driver of the vehicle.
We are already making representations to try and establish if this is official policy and from where it originates. In the meantime, please remember the phrase "Skill with responsibility" which ambulance personnel used in nearly all the 7.48 million 999 calls they responded to in 2008/9!”
Jonathan Fox,
Press Officer
Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel
Ambulance trust withdraws stab vest provision for
03.12.2009 21:56:48
East of England Ambulance Trust has decided to stop providing body armour to its ambulance crews in Essex. This action reneges on the 2006 initiative, which followed the lead taken by London Ambulance and Dorset who already provide this important piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) to their front-line crews.
The Chairman of the Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel (APAP), Ian Boothman,
said: ”The Trust’s decision to withdraw body armour for its staff in future is difficult to reconcile, as more staff have been assaulted in the last year in Essex than in 2006 when this item of PPE was introduced for serving medics in the county.”
Mr Boothman continued: “APAP considers this a retrograde decision by the Trust and seems to reflect a national narrative from ambulance trusts that appear to be in denial over the significant risks that 999 personnel face on a daily basis.”
Recently released statistics by the NHS Security Management Service show there were 24 physical assaults on Essex ambulance staff in 2008/9, more than double the 2007/8 total and clearly demonstrates that the risk of injury to those at the cutting edge of our profession remains as high today as in 2006 when Essex Ambulance, before they became part of East of England Ambulance, gave their crews body armour.
APAP will be making representations to the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives who have been supportive of APAP’s 12 year-old campaign for body armour with the aim of trying to bring some transparency to this illogical decision.
Ends
Jonathan Fox
APAP Press Officer/State Registered Paramedic
Notes for editors:
- Essex Ambulance Trust issued their staff with body armour before reconfiguration resulted in it becoming part of the East of England Trust in the summer of 2006.
- APAP has been running a 12-year campaign for the provision of body armour for all front-line crews in the UK.
- Below is a parliamentary question tabled on our behalf in 2007. The Parliamentary question refers to Hansard 15 October 007: Column 905W - Ambulance Services: Protective Clothing
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what requests he has received from ambulance trusts for additional funding for the purchase of stab proof vests. (155977).
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department is not aware of having received any requests from ambulance trusts for additional funding for the purchase of stab proof vests. Ambulance staff across the country can have stab vests if it is decided they are necessary by their local NHS ambulance trust, with some ambulance services already having introduced them.
- There were 1,006 physical assaults against ambulance staff in England for the year 2006/7 and 1,240 in 2008/9. Source: NHS Security Management Service.
- Historically, ambulance trusts have been the major obstacle to stab vest provision becoming a reality. Despite the covert nature of the vests - they are tailor-made to fit each specific uniform; trusts continue to suggest that these vests are cumbersome and portray the ambulance service in a military light. Some services go further and propagate the view that the wearing of anti-stab vests would encourage personnel to stay on scene and confront an individual brandishing a knife, rather than affecting a speedy withdrawal!
- Simon Hughes of the Liberal Democrats, tabled an Early Day Motion in support of our campaign back in 2001, which received wide cross-party support and they remain supportive of our aims on this campaign.
Pilot 111 non-emergency number for the public
28.07.2009 20:37:06
Comment from Jonathan Fox concerning the pilot 111 non-emergency number for the public
The ambulance service responded to nearly 7.5 million 999 calls last year of which around 27% were classed as Category C or non immediately serious or life threatening.
Any proposals that might help reduce the demand on the ambulance service at a time when 999 calls continue to rise by around 3.5% annually is to be welcomed.
It is to be hoped there will be robust terms of reference for the proposed new non-emergency 111 number to try to address the significant number of Cat C calls which continue to compromise the ambulance service's ability to respond to Cat A and B calls.
There remains a view held by some that an ambulance is a right irrespective of the nature of the problem and is often the result of a misplaced perception that this will result in a faster access to the healthcare system irrespective of the clinical need.
This is not the case and simply results in the inevitable delays that occur for people needing a 999 ambulance for a true emergency.
In December 2006, London Ambulance Service announced a six month trial of a "no send policy" to calls of a trivial nature. Since that time 999 calls have risen by over 2 million in England and will continue to rise exponentially unless a brake is imposed on the unsustainable demands being placed on our profession and the highly skilled men and women who respond to these calls on a daily basis.
Ends:
Jonathan Fox,
Press Officer
Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel
Phone: 07702 606137
The ambulance service responded to nearly 7.5 million 999 calls last year of which around 27% were classed as Category C or non immediately serious or life threatening.
Any proposals that might help reduce the demand on the ambulance service at a time when 999 calls continue to rise by around 3.5% annually is to be welcomed.
It is to be hoped there will be robust terms of reference for the proposed new non-emergency 111 number to try to address the significant number of Cat C calls which continue to compromise the ambulance service's ability to respond to Cat A and B calls.
There remains a view held by some that an ambulance is a right irrespective of the nature of the problem and is often the result of a misplaced perception that this will result in a faster access to the healthcare system irrespective of the clinical need.
This is not the case and simply results in the inevitable delays that occur for people needing a 999 ambulance for a true emergency.
In December 2003, London Ambulance Service announced a six month trial of a "no send policy" to calls of a trivial nature. Since that time 999 calls have risen by over 2 million in England and will continue to rise exponentially unless a brake is imposed on the unsustainable demands being placed on our profession and the highly skilled men and women who respond to these calls on a daily basis.
Ends:
Jonathan Fox,
Press Officer
Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel
Phone: 07702 606137
PRF Completion
07.03.2009 14:13:58
Dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s - PRF Completion if its not written down then it didn't happen. (ALL ABULANCE STAFF PLEASE READ).
Matt Whitticombe APAP's Northwest Regional Secretary & Deputy National Press Officer explains your responsibilities of completing paperwork correctly.
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