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EDITOR’S COMMENT<br />
EDITOR’S COMMENT<br />
Welcome to this issue of A<strong>UK</strong>.<br />
Let me start by passing on condolences from the team here at A<strong>UK</strong> to the family, friends, colleagues and all<br />
at SECAM on the tragic loss of a young Paramedic, Alice Clark, who lost her life in a crash early in January.<br />
Our thoughts are with you all at this sad time and we wish her colleagues, who were also involved, a speedy<br />
recovery. At times like these you reflect on the family that is the ambulance service and share in the shock<br />
and grief.<br />
“But we<br />
must look<br />
forward, not<br />
backward, and<br />
remember<br />
the Chinese<br />
proverb, ‘in<br />
the midst of<br />
chaos there<br />
is always<br />
opportunity’...”<br />
<strong>February</strong> is a particularly grim month, not just because of the post New Year lull and the gloomy outlook<br />
with little hope of decent weather for another two months, but also because the pressures do not get any<br />
better. I’ve just watched a story on TV about the mother of a young man who died waiting for a delayed<br />
response. There was nothing that could have been done to match demand and supply during that awful<br />
couple of months around Christmas, especially with the staff absence factor created by Covid. It was not an<br />
isolated incident, nor specific to any particular region, the point is that there doesn’t seem to be any way to<br />
keep up with rising demand and public expectations.<br />
Furthermore the vicious circle of delayed discharge, delayed admission, delayed handover is seemingly<br />
impossible to break without significant input into a social care system which has been broken for years<br />
and will not get any better with the staffing pressures brought into place with mandatory vaccination.<br />
It’s just my opinion but when I hear such stories I’m disappointed and saddened because no-one wants<br />
to make patients wait. I’ve been in the Control room and watched the pressure on dispatchers struggling<br />
to find something, anything, to send out and I’ve seen them cry when there isn’t anything available.<br />
They take it personally as do the Paramedics who know they’re arriving way out of the time frame and<br />
spend the first minutes of an interaction apologising and sometimes, as the front end, becoming the object<br />
of their frustrations for those who have had to wait. I don’t know what the answer is, I’m not sure anyone<br />
really does. We work at handover schemes and put as much into resource as we can but the simple truth<br />
is there is a clear gap between what we need and when we can have it. It takes two years to address the<br />
increased Paramedic resource needed to meet this year’s growth, not to mention the funding. But we must<br />
look forward, not backward, and remember the Chinese proverb, ‘in the midst of chaos there is always<br />
opportunity’…<br />
Anyway, on a less depressing note, travel restrictions are slowly being removed so with luck some of you<br />
might get a well-deserved holiday abroad this year. It’s been a long slog over the last two years and it really<br />
is time for all of us to recharge the batteries…<br />
Sam English, Co-Editor <strong>Ambulance</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
AMBULANCE <strong>UK</strong> - FEBRUARY<br />
4<br />
For more news visit: www.ambulanceukonline.com
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