My Barnoldswick & Earby Times, Colne Times and Nelson Leader Column for Friday 14th September 2018...
In the past month in addition to spending a shift out with the police, spending the morning collecting the bins with a Pendle Council refuse team and going out on a delivery round with the Royal Mail, I spent 12hours out with an ambulance crew.
As a volunteer Community First Responder (CFR) with the North West Ambulance Service since 2014, it’s always interesting to go out “third manning” with a crew. And as a Member of Parliament is it also very important to see the challenges different parts of the public sector are facing.
Long waiting times for ambulances are a concern for many Pendle residents. It is also an issue that I witness first-hand, as a CFR. In some cases, it is the right decision as ambulance staff prioritise those with more serious conditions that need urgent attention especially at peak times. However, sometimes those in genuine emergencies have also had to wait too long.
No-one genuinely requiring an ambulance should experience any unnecessary delay. To address this last year the government announced major reforms to the way ambulance response times are measured and how conditions are identified. It was therefore interesting to hear feedback from North West Ambulance Service staff about the impact of these reforms.
It was also good to see the progress being made on the new ambulance station at Burnley General Teaching Hospital. The new purpose-built station, will have much better facilities and space to allow for more training, for both medical students and CFRs, who currently use local fire stations for our training sessions!
During the day we dealt with a variety of 999 calls, including taking patients to Airedale A&E, Blackburn A&E and referring someone to Burnley Urgent Care Centre. We even had the North West Air Ambulance out for one patient, which was the first time I’ve dealt with an Air Ambulance crew.
A reminder of the amazing service the North West Ambulance Service and North West Air Ambulance provides and food for thought in coming discussions in Westminster. My thanks to Senior Paramedic Dave Quirk for having me along and to all our local Ambulance Service staff who do such an amazing job.
