[Report 1968] / Medical Officer of Health, Lincoln City.

  • Lincoln (England). City Council.
Date:
1968
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1968] / Medical Officer of Health, Lincoln City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/128 (page 40)
    AMBULANCE SERVICE Ambulance Officer: V. R. North During 1968 the Ambulance Service carried a total of 43,603 patients, a reduction of 3,460 or 7.3% compared with 1967; in addition 580 non¬ patient carrying journeys were undertaken. Mileage involved in this work totalled 155,074, a decrease of 7,221 miles or 4.4% compared with the pre¬ vious year. At regular intervals during the year liaison meetings were convened between Ambulance Officers and Hospital Management for the purpose of discussing mutual problems regarding the transport of patients in general, and in particular to planning methods of limiting ambulance space to those patients who qualify for transport by reason of medical necessity only. Planning on these lines should result in minimising abuse of the service, and it is reasonable to assume such plans will continue to reduce the number of out-patients requiring transport. Despite the slight decrease in the amount of work undertaken during 1968, pressure on the service was unrelieved and occasionally manpower resources were completely overwhelmed. In order to clarify such an apparent contradiction, an explanation of how rapidly chang¬ ing demands on the service can lead to the state mentioned is necessary. Approximately 85% of the total number of patients carried may be classi¬ fied under the heading of “out-patients”, these patients are transported to hospitals and various other centres for treatment and are returned to their homes the same day. The majority, although unable to use public transport, can walk with a minimum of assistance and are collected on a “milk round” principle. Annual fluctuations in this category are expected, and up to a point, increases can be absorbed with little adverse effect on the efficiency of the service. The remaining 15% may be classified as “general cases” and present a completely different picture. The majority of these cases being stretcher patients require the attention of two men and take far longer to handle, therefore any increase in their numbers significantly affects staff resources. Included in the 15% mentioned are those patients who require transport to distant hospitals for specialist examination and return, or who may be admitted for specialist treatment. These cases are often classed as urgent and little or no advance warning is given when they arise. Under these circum¬ stances drivers have to be withdrawn from the local work of the service and are “lost” for extremely long periods, often for the whole of their shift. It may be seen from the appended statistics that “out of City” work in the 100/200 mile range increased by 35 journeys during 1968, an insignificant number until it is realised how these cases affect the availability of staff for the local work of the service. The following tables give some indication of the type of case dealt with during the year, and enable comparisons to be made: Annual Comparative Table Cases Ambulance Sitting 1968 1967 1966 17,119 20,588 16,740 26,484 26,475 23,315 1965 13,316 22,204 Total 43,603 47,063 40,055 35,520