South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon.
Ambulance Watch: Norfolk MP calls on minister to replace ambulance trust board
Adam Gretton
Friday, March 15, 2013
6:30 AM
A Norfolk MP has called on the board of the East of England Ambulance Service to be replaced, if the under-fire trust is found to be failing by the health regulator.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is set publish a report soon into the results of an unannounced inspection, which is anticipated to criticise the region’s ambulance service for not meeting its response targets.
South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has now urged the minister responsible for ambulance services to sack the board, if the report finds the NHS trust to be failing.
The Conservative MP told Earl Howe that the CQC had already briefed local MPs to say that the ambulance trust is failing patients when it comes to rural response times, paramedics in Rapid Response Vehicles are experiencing long waits on incidents for ambulance back-up, and are facing long turnaround delays at A&E departments. For the last ten months, the trust has failed to hit two key response times in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Mr Bacon added that he was “greatly concerned” that more and more patients in rural East Anglia could no longer trust the ambulance service to arrive on time when they dial 999.
In a letter to the minister responsible for emergency and urgent care, he said: “If the CQC’s report rates the trust as non-compliant as expected, then this can not be allowed to pass without serious consequences. I therefore believe that the trust’s board should be replaced by the Department of Health as soon as possible. Anything less than this would be met with incredulity by our constituents and would be unacceptable.”
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4 comments
Gives the (false) impression that he's doing something, is working in the public's interest, etc etc, but where was he when the funding cuts were announced. Too little too late!
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Mr Cameron Isaliar
Friday, March 15, 2013
Ironic that a Tory MP is blaming somebody else for the ambulance fiasco. Where was Mr Bacon when the vote was taken when his partys leader was allowed to impose the draconian cost cutting imposed on the service. What is it £50 million over five years ?
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norman hall
Friday, March 15, 2013
well said Joy, those who know appreciate its a Health system wide capacity and funding issue. Good management and initiatives can improve efficiency but not enough to cancel out increasing demand, therefore quality will eventually suffer, and its started to happen. Hospitals, care homes, are full , there is a 20% vacancy rate locally for GPs, and the A+E departments can't recruit enough doctors locally
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trelo
Friday, March 15, 2013
I am surprised at this call by Mr Bacon. The reports I have read indicate 2 things, firstly the main problem is that ambulance crews are unable to process patients at hospitals due to the inadequacy of A and E depts. A and E depts are unable to process patients because there is a massive shortage of hospital beds. On top of that you have an inadequate number of ambulances which is now being addressed. from my experience of dealing with NHS Norfolk I am very aware that the PCT (now given a new name) is totally inefficient and has been for years. Andrew Morgan was chief exec of the PCT until September when he moved to the ambulance service so knows the problems very well. Mr Morgan failed in his previous role so there is some irony in the fact that the consequences of that failure are now coming home to roost. At the end of the day if there were adequate hospital beds and A and E services the ambulances would be on the road instead of sitting outside hospitals.
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Joy, King's Lynn
Friday, March 15, 2013