COTSWOLD MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has called for

improvements to Great Western Ambulance Service.

His stand follows a year-long investigation by the

Healthcare Commission. It was prompted by the case of Rebecca

Wedd, who died in hospital after she was hit by a car in

Cirencester and had to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance.

On May 25 last year, the 23-year-old was walking along the

A433 near Coates to the Royal Agricultural College, where she

studied, when she was hit by a silver BMW. She lay injured by

the roadside for 42 minutes – 34 minutes longer than the target

for life-threatening emergency calls.

The report acknowledged a "serious failure" on the part of

the Trust to respond to the incident within a reasonable time.

It has made a series of recommendations for improvements.

Rebecca's father, Peter, is furious that more improvements

have not been made a year after the accident.

He said: "I'm bitter towards the ambulance trust and this

report confirms why I feel like I do. It shows they still

haven't done things they should have done."

He has been backed by Mr Clifton-Brown, who has been

involved with the case.

He said: "While this report can only awaken poignant

memories for Rebecca's family, I hope that the pain can be

eased even in the smallest way through the knowledge that

through this report their daughter's death will not be in

vain."

Mr Clifton-Brown accepts that the service has made

improvements, although delays in emergency care are still

widespread in rural areas.

He added: "The ambulance service needs to work with

increased haste and honesty in dealing with enquiries.

"I recently had to threaten an adjournment debate if a reply

to a piece of correspondence was not answered immediately.

"I call on GWAS to implement the five recommendations of the

health care commission in full, and to consider whether it has

sufficient capability to deal with an area as large and as

rural as the Cotswolds."

Dr Ossie Rawstorne, Clinical Director, Great Western Ambulance

Service responded to the Healthcare Commission report and

said:

 

"We welcome this report from the Healthcare Commission which

concerns an incident involving the death of a young woman in

Gloucestershire 17 months ago. Our thoughts are very much with

her family.

 

"I wish to reassure the public that Great Western Ambulance

Service is delivering better and faster patient care than ever

before. We still have challenges ahead but we have made

significant improvements in the last 17

months.   

 

"The Commission uses an annual Category A performance figure

published in June this year, which is not the latest. We are

now performing better than ever before.

"We are now regularly meeting the new Call Connect Category

A target which means that we should attend life threatening

incidents within 8 minutes, 75% of the time. Since this

incident happened, we have introduced a Trust-wide Computer

Aided Dispatch system which means that we are now able to see

exactly where each crew and vehicle is located at any time in

any place across the patch and dispatch the nearest available

vehicle.

"We are answering calls faster than ever before – 98% calls

are answered within 3 seconds - and we are creating a highly

skilled workforce that is improving the range and quality of

care we offer to our patients.

"We accept all five of the Commission's recommendations and

will have implemented four of them completely by the end of

next month. We now have a robust system in place to document

serious incidents and complaints and to learn from these. We

now also respond more sensitively and appropriately to

complaints and comments on our services.

 

"We have formalised briefing for control room staff and hold

weekly operational meetings for staff at all levels. By the end

of September our new control room structure will be in place

and supported by a formal mechanism to communicate changes in

procedures and policy to staff.

 

"Finally, we have made significant progress on the remaining

recommendation made by the Commission. We are working hard to

make sure all staff have an annual appraisal with personal

development plans and receive all appropriate training."