Cotswold MP hits out at Great Western Ambulance Service following damning report
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."
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