Does Redditch have safe levels of ambulance cover?

 

Cllr Rebecca Blake, Labour's Parliamentary Spokesperson has raised concerns with West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) & Redditch & Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group (RBCCG) about levels of ambulance cover in Redditch. 

"The ambulance service are receiving unprecedented levels of calls and I want to know when Redditch residents need an ambulance it wont be stuck in Worcester or Birmingham instead of being in Redditch, especially when B98 is the busiest area for the ambulance service in the County".

Eighteen months ago Labour Councillors fought against plans to locate all ambulances in Worcester and we were delighted to secure a second ambulance hub in the North of the County, albeit in Bromsgrove rather than Redditch.  At that time Redditch had two twenty four hour double crewed ambulances, a third ambulance giving daytime cover and a paramedic in a car.  Now WMAS are failing to give the same reassurance. 

Unhappy with two written responses received from the Chief Executive, Rebecca has submitted a Freedom of Information request to try and get to the bottom of whether Redditch is receiving reduced levels of ambulance cover.

"After a recent visit to the Bromsgrove Hub I could see what a sterling job paramedics are doing and under significant pressure.  However, to have a situation where ambulances are unavailable more often than they are available while at the same time having to take more and more Redditch patients to hospitals further away is putting patients at unnecessary risk.

For example, if someone had a stroke today, instead of a taking them a few miles up the road to the Alex, paramedics now have a forty mile round trip to Worcester which means the ambulance is not available for longer, but to date no extra provision has been made to deal with this.  I have written to WMAS and the RBCCG to see how they propose to deal with the increase in demand for ambulance services".

 

For more information from the Redditch Standard please click here