Bristol area to get more paramedics, more 999 operators
The latest figures from Great Western Ambulance Service show that the trust is still not reaching many emergency cases as quickly as it should.
But the service's new chief executive says he is certain the trust can meet all national targets by early next year, with the help of the money to spend on new frontline staff announced yesterday.
Anthony Marsh set out his vision for the transformation of the service at a meeting of councillors in Weston-super-Mare yesterday.
GWAS has come under fire after a number of high-profile cases where ambulances arrived late at emergencies.
It launched an investigation when Weston-super-Mare nurse Martina Simmons died of a brain haemorrhage in June after waiting more than two hours for an ambulance to take her to hospital following a 999 call.
In May 86-year-old Muriel Robinson had to wait in agony for nine hours for an ambulance after she fell and broke her hip.
And a woman died in Cirencester last year when it took 42 minutes for paramedics to reach her after a road crash.
GWAS has secured an additional £6.5 million of funding from NHS South West and the primary care trusts to recruit more than 150 new members of staff to improve efficiency and help the service meet the standards set by the Government.
Mr Marsh, who has been brought into the service to turn it around ahead of a new chief executive being installed, said the money will be spent on more paramedics and control room staff, although he warned that the process cannot happen overnight.
He said that meeting the national targets is a priority for the ambulance service.
He said he has scrapped several ongoing projects and will reduce back office operations where possible to enable staff to focus on getting ambulances to people faster.
Mr Marsh, who has now been at GWAS for five weeks, has visited the three control rooms and discovered that more call handlers and dispatch staff are needed to send ambulance crews to patients as quickly as possible.
Its staff are supposed to reach three quarters of calls to life-threatening emergencies within eight minutes.
Although the service is getting closer to reaching that figure, in August 73.9 per cent of cases were reached within that time.
GWAS also missed its target to reach 95 per cent of patients with serious but not life-threatening injuries within 19-minutes and to reach 95 per cent of all callers who need an ambulance in an hour.
With more organised control rooms Mr Marsh believes the target for life-threatening emergencies can be met by February.
There will be assistants to help the dispatch team and deal with queries from ambulance crews when they are heading to emergencies, along with dedicated dispatchers for solo crews who tend to be the first paramedics on the scene.
Mr Marsh said: "While I acknowledge Great Western is not in a good place they have made a lot of progress under very difficult circumstances. Staff are working really, really hard and I am determined to support them to make a real difference to patients."
Mr Marsh said that on top of the additional roles that will be created with the additional funds, the remaining 35 vacancies within the trust will be filled and more staff training will be carried out so there will less need for agency workers to cover shifts.
He also told the meeting of the Ambulance Joint Health Scrutiny Committee that the trust will be looking to recruit more community first responders, where people are trained to be the first person at the scene, to start basic first aid while a paramedic is en route, particularly in rural communities.
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