The London ambulance service. : Reports, etc., containing information collected by the General Purposes Committee of the Council with reference to ambulance provision existing in London, and in provincial and continental cities and towns, for dealing with cases of accident or sudden illness in the streets or other public places. / G.L. Gomme.

  • London County Council.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The London ambulance service. : Reports, etc., containing information collected by the General Purposes Committee of the Council with reference to ambulance provision existing in London, and in provincial and continental cities and towns, for dealing with cases of accident or sudden illness in the streets or other public places. / G.L. Gomme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    (4) Tlie police—The metropolitan police possess both liaiul ambulances and wheeled litters for use in cases of emergency, and members of the force receive on joining, instruction in ambulance and first aid work as part of their ordinary training. In addition to this a lai'ge number of policemen have voluntarily attended courses of instruction given by the St. John Ambulance Association and have received certificates of efficiency. One or more ambulances or litters are kept at all police stations, but in the absence of any means of telephonic communication with the police station, by which the ambulance can be readily obtained, their use must be largely restricted, in cases requiring prompt action, to such accidents as occur in the immediate vicinity of the police stations. The custom of the police is not to leave the sufferer, and the course taken in any given case depends largely upon the circumstances of the accident, the place where it occurs and the presence in the crowd of persons ready and capable of giving assistance to the police. Thus if it occurs near a police station, or a place where an ambulance has been deposited by the St. John Ambulance Association, or the Hospitals Ambulance Association, the ambulance would be used; if however these be at some distance and a cab is readily available, its services would be requisitioned, or before resorting to a cab, if there be a doctor living near at hand, he may be called out to see the injured person before removing him to hospital or to his private abode. The police also possess three horse ambulances, but these are not equipped and staffed, nor are they in direct telephonic communication, so as to be available for use at a moment's notice. On each occasion, when required, horses are obtained from a contractor. On occasions of great public gathering the police largely, if not entirely, depend upon the voluntary organisation provided for the occasion by the St. John Ambulance Association, the work being carried out by the two bodies in conjunction. On such occasion the service is organised on a military model, viz., a base hospital (one of the general hospitals), a field tent, with a horse ambulance, at which first aid can be given in the neighbourhood of the crowd, and in connection with this, bearer parties with hand ambulances amongst the crowd. From what has been said in the foreo:oinef account of ambulance service in London it will be seen that there does not exist a service, fully equipped, adequately staffed, and connected by means of a system of communication with different parts of London as to ensure speedy removal to hospital in the best available manner of all persons who may meet with accidents or be overtaken with illness. Such means as exist at the present time, together with the fact that a large number of persons are trained by the St. John Ambulance Association in first aid and ambulance work must do much good in alleviating suffering in the removal of persons to hospital. Owing, however, to the absence of any system of communication the use of the ambulance stations which do exist must be largely limited to their own immediate neighbourhood, and in view of the fact that the ambulances are all hand ambulances, considerable loss of important time must often occur in getting cases to hospital. (2.) The arrangements in provincial towns for ambulance services, so far as relates TO accidents or cases of emergency. With a view to obtaining information as to what, if any, provision has been made in provincial tovs^ns in regard to an ambulance service for use in cases of accidents or sudden emergency as distinct from ambulance services for the transport of cases of infectious disease, I addressed a circular letter to the medical officers of health of the ohief provincial towns, taking for this purpose the 32 large towns included in the list of the Registrar-General. The information w^hich they have been good enough to send me I have set out in tabular form. From this it appears that in 16 towns a horse ambulance service has been provided, while in 12 towns only hand ambulances are used. Regarding those towns where a horse ambulance service has been established, it will be observed that it has been provided in many cases by the local authority, in some by private subscriptions, and afterwards taken over for maintenance and control by the local authority, and in one case by the local hospital. A special staff is not provided, but the services are worked by means of the police force or the fire-brigade staff, and in nearly all cases the horse ambulances are kept ready for use at either police or fire-brigade stations. In the case of the service at Liverpool—which appears to be the one most systematically worked out—the ambulances are kept at the chief hospitals and at a police station. The means of communication depended upon in these towns for summoning the ambulance are largely street telephonic call-boxes. In the information obtained from Sheffield reference is made to the increasing number of calls received since the service was organised. The chief constable who supplies the information states as follows—The ambulance service is much appreciated in this city and the number of calls is increasing yearly as will be seen from the following table— Tear. Calls received. Year. Calls received. 1891 48 1897 79 1892 44 1898 100 1893 32 1899 138 1894 25 1900 298 1H95 33 To July 2nd, 1896 55 i901 296 [2]