Bristol Ambulance Trust warned: Improve or face merger

The ambulance service in Bristol has been given a year to turn around its performance.

An MP has said that if Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) does not improve in that time, change of management or a merger with a more successful neighbour could be on the cards.

In last month's Care Quality Commission (CQC) Annual Health Check, the ambulance service was given a weak rating by the health regulator for its quality of services.

GWAS failed to meet national standards for reaching patients in time, including life-threatening cases.

It also failed to meet standards for waste management and risks associated with medical devices.

West Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison said the new chief executive, David Whiting, should be given the chance to improve things but said that it would not be acceptable for GWAS to receive such a low rating again next year. The CQC report was based on information compiled from the 2008/09 financial year, before Mr Whiting joined.

Dr Murrison, a naval doctor, met with the chief executive last week.

GWAS was created in 2006 with the merger of services in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the former Avon area but has yet to meet national targets for a full financial year since it was formed.

Dr Murrison said: "GWAS has been bumping along the bottom since its creation in 2006 and it cannot keep going on.

"David Whiting told me what plans there were for the future in order to improve and I think he has got a year to do that.

"He is new to the post and comes highly recommended and hopefully things will be turned around in a year's time.

"If there is another adverse CQC constituents will want to know what they are going to do about it.

Dr Murrison said he had supported the creation of GWAS in 2006 in the belief that it would improve response times.

He said: "It seems to me to be a failing service, one which is staffed at the coalface by paramedics and emergency responders who are doing an incredibly good job, but are backed up by a system which has a lot of problems. I am not proposing a merger, I am suggesting it as one of the possible options."

GWAS spokesman, John Oliver said that in the first six months of this financial year, the trust has exceeded its target of meeting the most serious calls within eight minutes, 75 per cent of the time, despite dealing with an 11 per cent increase in 999 calls.

"This is thanks to our incredibly hard-working staff, who remain committed to providing the highest level of care for patients, wherever and whenever they need us."