The crisis that engulfed Wales’ ambulance service has been laid
bare, says the Welsh Conservative Senedd Group,
as it is revealed police cars had to be used several times in
just one weekend to take people to hospital.
Across the weekend of the 29th October 2021, 110
incidents were recorded where in:
- 14% of incidents, officers conveyed a patient to hospital;
- 15% of incidents, officers spent an unnecessary amount of
time waiting for an ambulance – 50 officers across an estimated
total time of 45 hours;
- 25% of incidents, supporting the ambulance service prevented
the force from undertaking traditional policing activity; and
- 27% of incidents, police analysis considered the request for
police attendance to be inappropriate.
The data was revealed in a presentation for the Cross Party Group
on Policing last month where police forces said “time spent by
staff dealing with medical emergencies has a direct impact on our
ability to respond to emergency calls and keep communities across
Wales safe”.
Last autumn marked a turbulent period for the Labour-run NHS as
October marked its worst-ever A&E and
ambulance waiting times, while the Labour Government refused
to accept it was a crisis at the time.
Dyfed Powys Police recorded the case of a woman who had cut her
wrist to the bone and was bleeding heavily. An Armed Response
Vehicles attended and applied a tourniquet, because the estimated
time of arrival for the ambulance was seven hours. Officers
contacted the ambulance service but the call did not get
upgraded, forcing officers to convey the patient to hospital.
Another case saw South Wales Police officers attending a
suspected heart attack because members of the public were not
able to get through to the ambulance service. Although officers
eventually managed to contact the ambulance service, the patient
was only graded as Amber 1, meaning 6-8 hours delay, compelling
the police take the patient to hospital themselves.
The CPG were also told of the impact this had on individual
officers from welfare to resources to disciplinary procedures. It
has been reported that police medics have sought not to continue
in this voluntary role given the increasing frequency of events,
and the associated risks that accompany their attendance.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Health Minister
said:
“There is a reason why we say the ambulance service in Wales is
in crisis – because there clearly is one, which is why it was so
dispiriting that Labour couldn’t bring themselves to admit it or
do anything about it.
“We now hear about a sizeable number of cases where the police
had to abandon their duties because the ambulance service could
not fulfil theirs. It is not their fault but the Labour
Government that lets patients and paramedics down time and time
again.
“And although this was at the time of the NHS’ worst-ever
performance, it has not much improved, with waiting lists
continuing to grow, A&E waits at their third highest levels,
and cases of pensioners left on the streets for hours because
there are no ambulances around.
“Labour needs to get a grip on the NHS and stop breaking all the
wrong records.”
