Public Eye Winter 2015/16

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18 Public Eye Focusing on emerging issues in the public sector ARE WE HEADING TOWARDS A SINGLE JOINED EMERGENCY SERVICE? The demands and roles of ambulance trusts, fire and police organisations are ever changing but there is a strong impetus and defined measures to improve closer working between these emergency services, says Nathan East. © Copyright. Weightmans 2015/2016. All rights reserved.
Issue 6 Winter 2015/2016 19 The pressures emergency services face to meet demand continues to make headlines. A recent high profile case of an accident victim left waiting for three hours following a crash near the boundary between three police forces has raised questions as to the effective co-ordination across emergency services. A new Consultation Paper ‘Enabling closer working between the Emergency Services’ formalises an existing push towards collaboration between emergency services by introducing a statutory duty to collaborate to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and puts the issue into the spotlight. So are we heading towards a single joined emergency service? If not, what are the objectives? Some commentators see the new proposals as a precursor to more radical integration. There is precedent for effective single combined emergency services in other countries, but the consultation proposes evolution rather than revolution. Recent years have witnessed a welcome trend towards closer working including successful ambulance and fire authority co-responding initiatives which have been shown to save lives. ...a large majority of fire deaths are amongst the over 70s who have pre-existing health issues. The consultation recognises increasing demand on ambulance services, and the evolving role of fire and to a lesser extent police services to focus on protection and assisting those at risk or vulnerable. Service demand tends to overlap significantly in some communities due to socio-economic or urban conditions. For example, a large majority of fire deaths are amongst the over 70s who have pre-existing health issues. The proposed collaboration duties are fairly generic and recommend local solutions allowing the Services to take the lead. Suggested efficiencies around shared back office and further co-location suggest fiscal rather than operational objectives behind the proposals. The marquee measure will enable Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) to take on the responsibilities of fire and rescue authorities. Transfer is not mandatory but is anticipated where it is in the ‘interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness or public safety’. As such local agreement between police and fire will be required. It is likely PCCs would take no direct responsibility for operational aspects of the fire service which would continue to be directed by Chief Fire Officers. There is a concern that these proposals could affect the autonomy of the fire service in particular. To allay fears, separate funding streams for the two services will continue to exist for fiscal clarity but this must be robustly enforced if the independence of two distinct services is to be protected. There remain a number of structural barriers. Vast cultural differences exist between services with ambulance closely aligned to the wider NHS in terms of governance, and each has very different statutory powers, regulation and funding. If greater integration is the ultimate goal, these will need to be aligned. However, there is understandable public concern that this could lead to services becoming less specialised. Currently, ambulance trusts tend to cover much larger populations than fire and police authorities meaning collaboration may only be possible on a piecemeal basis with different fire and police authorities within its geographical area. Overall, closer working and greater efficiency can only benefit the public provided recognition of the highly trained specialism of the core aspects of each emergency service remains paramount. Nathan East, Partner, Real Estate 0207 822 1932 nathan.east@weightmans.com
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Public Eye Winter 2015/16

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