110 members of the military to give support to ambulances
THE Welsh Ambulance Service is set to be supported by 110 members of the military who will work as non-emergency drivers, it has been confirmed.
The Ministry of Defence said the armed forces personnel will be deployed from next Thursday and will stay with the NHS trust until the end of November.
The aim is to help to ease pressures caused by the pandemic and ensure that ambulance crews across Wales can continue to attend life-threatening calls quickly.
The UK Government said the military will “augment” the ambulance service with nonemergency drivers who will not operate under blue light conditions.
They will attend lower-priority calls to help to free up resources for emergency calls where there is an immediate risk to life, such as cardiac arrests.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “I am proud of the tireless work of all our service personnel during this pandemic. They continue to provide important support, working alongside our dedicated emergency services across the UK.
“The deployment of 110 personnel to support the ambulance service will ensure WAST [Welsh Ambulance Service Trust] can continue to deliver their life-saving services.”
Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart said: “Once again the UK’s armed forces are playing a key role in the fight against Covid-19 by supporting the critical work of the Welsh Ambulance Service. I am hugely grateful for their commitment and expertise.
“I would like to extend my gratitude to all those who have worked incredibly hard to ensure our public services deliver for the people of Wales throughout the pandemic.”
Chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service Jason Killens said: “We’re proud and grateful to be working alongside the military once again, who did a superb job
of assisting us on two occasions previously last year.
“The pandemic has presented a challenge like no other, but the last couple of months in particular have meant significant and sustained pressures on our ambulance service, including high levels of demand and an increase in Covid-19 related activity.
“Winter is our busiest time, and having military colleagues on board once more will bolster our capacity and put us in the best possible position to provide a safe service to the people of Wales.”
This is the third deployment of the armed forces to support WAST since the pandemic began in March 2020. Some 68 personnel were deployed in April 2020 and 120 personnel augmented dedicated emergency service staff in December 2020, including defence medics. They also supported the vaccine rollout in Wales earlier this year and were previously deployed during the pandemic to provide specialist planning advice, deliver PPE and support the community testing programme in Merthyr Tydfil.
Last month, the Welsh Government rejected calls from the Conservatives to declare an emergency in the ambulance service due to increasing demand and rising waiting times. However, a new report has revealed ambulance crews are facing long delays stuck outside hospitals waiting for patients to be admitted.
The Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) report published yesterday said crews had to wait over an hour to transfer a patient on 32,699 occasions – with around half of the patients being aged over 65.
The report found this was a concern because “many older adults can be considered more vulnerable and at risk of unnecessary harm due to frailty and pre-existing health conditions”.
Patient handover delays were often a consequence of a bottleneck within A&E departments due to problems transferring patients to wards because of a lack of beds.
The report recommended that the Welsh Government and health boards consider taking action to improve patient flow within hospitals and the social care sector.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said last night: “Bringing in the armed forces should not be a medium or long-term bail-out option for the Labour government in Cardiff Bay.
“It is the responsibility of ministers to ensure the NHS is well-staffed and well-run, but it is failing with 3,000 staff vacancies and its worst-ever A&E waiting times, longest-ever waiting list, and second poorest ambulance response times.”
Responding to the HIW report, a Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “We acknowledge the scale of these challenges and the impact on staff and patients. Health Boards are responsible for improving ambulance patient handover times and we expect to see them deliver improvement in this area.
“A broad range of actions are already in place including recruitment of additional ambulance clinicians, creation of urgent primary care centres and a new national programme to support people to return home from hospital when ready. We have also announced £25m in recurrent funding.”
Winter is our busiest time, and having military colleagues on board once more will bolster our capacity and put us in the best possible position to provide a safe service to the people of Wales
Chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service Jason Killens