Questions over how much Gloucestershire matters to ambulance top boss

By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter

There are questions over how much Gloucestershire matters to the top boss of South Western Ambulance Service as he didn’t attend a meeting scrutinising a decision to rely more on community first responders.

A decision was taken by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust bosses earlier this year to phase out the reliance on firefighter co-responders to 999 calls which need medical attention across the area.

Ambulance chiefs have defended the move saying it is not solely about cost saving.

They told the health overview and scrutiny committee yesterday (October 15) that community first responders go to more incidents and contribute on average to a faster response time than fire co-responders.

But the absence of South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust John Martin at the meeting was met with disappointment.

Public health, communities and fire cabinet member Paul Hodgkinson (LD, Bourton-on-the-Water and Northleach) said: “Back in the summer when we met, I specifically asked for the CEO of the ambulance service to be here.

“So I’m extremely disappointed that he isn’t. I gather he has attended other meetings of the South West and he is not here today.

“I don’t know what statement that sends. Does it send a statement that actually Gloucestershire does not matter so much as the rest of the South West.

“I’m really, really disappointed that he is not here to front up the decision.”

Executive medical director Matt Thomas explained that the ambulance trust covers a large geographic area.

And he said the CEO was unable to attend the meeting but has done so previously.

“I am here as we’ve talked about before, John was unable to attend today as our chief executive officer but I’m sure would be happy to pick up conversations around it,” he said.

“Some of this is purely because there are seven counties that we serve, all of which have a HOSC, and so he has attended this HOSC previously.

“I’m here to try and represent our executive management group which took the decision.”

Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk