AMBULANCE SERVICE FAILING BUT COUNCIL MEETING HAS NOTHING TO SAY (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

AMBULANCE SERVICE FAILING BUT COUNCIL MEETING HAS NOTHING TO SAY

November 23, 2007 1:13 PM

The Tory dominated County Council refused to debate Liberal Democrat proposals to assist Gloucestershire's failing ambulance service on Wednesday.

This summer independent experts reviewed and reported on the newly formed Great Western Ambulance Trust, an amalgamation of the Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Avon ambulance trusts. They found that since the merger, the Ambulance Service in Gloucestershire has seriously declined. The report quotes a variety of systemic failures which are preventing the new Trust from consistently delivering the 8 minute response time demanded by the Government for category A emergencies.

Cllr Deryck Nash, Liberal Democrat deputy group leader and spokesperson for Adult Care, said:

"I proposed that the Council look into ways of helping the new Ambulance Trust to find its feet but the Tory chairperson refused to let me make my case, and the motion was lost by default.

"This is a matter of urgency. All across Gloucestershire we are hearing stories of a sub-standard Ambulance Service. My own district, the Cotswolds, has witnessed one very high profile tragedy which may or may not be connected with this problem. It is vital that we take action to prevent this sort of thing continuing, so it's deeply depressing that our motion was timed out."

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Liberal Democrat group leader, said:

"Our Ambulance Service seems to be in serious difficulty and it is only right that the County Council approaches colleagues in the NHS to find out more about the problems and see if anything can be done to help. We thought our motion would get instant cross party support. As it turned out it didn't even get discussed.

"Before the Ambulance Trust merger, the Tories themselves supported our view that the amalgamation posed risks to services in Gloucestershire. Now that we have been proven right I am shocked that the Tories don't want to follow the issue up. It really is outrageous that the Tories have refused to debate this issue so they can have their lunch a little earlier."