It's what we wanted, right?

"1000s of Emergency Service workers seriously hacked off"

I've read a lot recently regarding what this current government is up to and I have none my fair share of bitching about it. I have no real political allegiance, nor do I think that any of the three many parties are any better equipped than each other to change things for the better. There is too much in-fighting and political gain to be made from empty promises. I have watched with frustration whilst the Tories have made universities unaffordable for all but the elite, increased the cost of living considerably, fuel prices rocket, the housing market stagnate and the economy crumble. Our armed forces were slashed on all fronts and public services faced cuts to budgets and front line staff. All can be rationalised under the heading of necessity. Financially the country was / is in a mess. Cuts have to be made to reduce the national deficit and sure, every one felt the pinch. Then, there was the NHS bill. Now there is police privatisation. These goes way beyond reducing costs. This is about profit. This is a direct assault on what our country has held in high regard for so many years. 

I have often had inter-service banter between us and police about which is the number 1 emergency service. We have our reasons why we are and they have theirs. I was going to write a 'police vs ambulance' blog where obviously, we would come out on top! In light of recent events however it seems pretty pointless. They are two great services which do this country proud. Two services which only serve to help and protect our people. They are not and should not be about profit and the cuts that are being made to both with have huge implications. You find me a voter who wanted more crime, less police on the beat, less ambulances and costly health care. I think you'll struggle.

The LAS is the largest "free at the point of contact" emergency ambulance service in the world. We respond to over 1.5 million calls a year within the M25 and employ over 5,000 staff. We are a non profit organisation as are the other 12 NHS ambulance trusts. The government cuts have caused the loss of almost 1000 staff in London alone, most of which are front line. Private, profit making ambulance services are becoming more common place and when the reforms are pushed through, in spite of huge opposition, that will signal the end for the ambulance services that so many millions of people rely on every day. We pride ourselves on the fact that everyone gets the best treatment we can give without social standing being a factor. Sadly, rather than pulling our drug guidelines from our pockets we'll be pulling out price lists. When profit becomes the driving force behind medical care people are simply priced out of the market and have to choose between treatment or rent. But hey, that's what we wanted, right?

The story is no different with our police force. Across the 43 police authorities it is predicted there will be a loss of almost 35,000 staff, most of which will be off the front line. The government is only to fast to criticise when forces can't cope with the public unrest so obviously reducing the amount of officers is the answer. Lets not forget our police face criminals with guns and knifes with nothing more than pepper spray and a stick. They have limited resources when it comes to crowd control with little or no use of baton rounds and water canons. Despite the lack of weapons and the few officers available, we still lock up more criminals than any other European country. What more do people want from the police? The governments answer appears to be privatisation. Out-sourcing police work to untrained, muscle heavy companies like G4S who are there for money and money alone. They will be less accountable and less trust worthy. But hey, that's what we wanted, right?

I'm not saying the emergency services are beyond budget cuts. No one is. Even the Fire Brigade will have their sports equipment budget reduced but recent government actions go way beyond budget cuts. It is quite simply, systematically deconstructing the NHS and police force for personal and financial gain. Let's be honest, if we stay as we are no pockets will be lined. I don't know what stand can be made. An e-petition with over 150,000 signatures has been ignored and the coalition the the people voted into power are simply ignoring the the people who put them there. The NHS bill and the privatisation of the Police will signify and end of an era. But that's what we wanted, right? 

NO IT'S NOT! No one wanted or wants this. No one wants costly health care, no one wants a fragmented police force. No one wants less ambulances. No one wants less police offers and No one wants this inept, out of touch government failing to deliver ALL of their promises to continue this ill conceived policy agenda. I say no one because the people it doesn't effect are rich enough not to care and only stand to profit form this countries demise.

Interestingly, if you were to combine the budget cuts of the all UK ambulance services, polices forces and fire brigades in 2011 it wouldn't come close to the amount that the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland paid out in bonuses in the same year. Funny that. 

Fire Brigade: Hands off our service

In the news today were a number of articles regarding the London Fire Brigades audacious bid to take over control of the London Ambulance Service. Their main argument this time is the value of property that the LAS owns and how merging ambulance stations with fire stations would save the £50 million. As the spending of public sector money is at the forefront of the news and political debate it is of no surprise that their proposal has turned all the heads the LFB intended. With apparent backing from the London Assembly and various areas of the Tory government it is perhaps a sign that the latest effort of the LFB to gain control of the LAS may this time be more fruitful. But let's not be fooled. The 'shared station facilities' and 'joint working' are just political jargon for 'land grab' and 'LFB takeover' and if it wasn't for £80 million valuation of LAS property there wouldn't be a peep about it. I'm watching keenly to see who this many effect other services around the country too.

This isn't the first time the LFB have tried to get their hands on the LAS. In recent years they have made moves to try responding to Cat A calls stating their response times are much better so could be on scene quicker. Admittedly, the amount of time LFB spend sitting on station playing pool, basketball, table tennis and hero makes it easier to respond quickly. They don't deal with anything like the call rate the LAS deals with, in fact they only receive 15% of the calls that we do in a 12 month period. Compared to the 1.5 million calls that come through our control room the LFB receive less than 230,000, they mobilise on only 60% of those (138,385) and of those calls only 21% (29,215) were fires. Of the calls the LAS received in 2010/11 1.1 million were activated on an of these 347,675 were deemed immediately life threatening. Until the LFB can show they would cope under such high demand with a much smaller budget maybe they should concentrate on their own budget and their cost to the tax payer.

The power struggle they are seeking smacks of desperation. Desperation to justify their existence and the extensive budget the receive. Maybe it's a convuluted way of staving off the threat of privatisation. Who knows?! Each year they receive roughly £437 million from the government compared to £288 million that the LAS receive. Taken into account call volume it seems a vastly generous and unnecessary figure. Why do they need so much? With less staff and less work load why is there such disparity in the budgets? Maybe they should look at ways to cut their costs rather than ways to cut ours. They cost the London tax payer £60 a head for the service they provide compared to the £30 it cost per head for the ambulance service. In the reports today about how much they could save the tax payer, nothing is mentioned about their recent financial indiscretions. No mention of the £500 million of wasted tax payer money last year with wasted unused vehicles, ill conceived new control rooms and coffee machines! For the full report see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14974552. Brian Coleman, chairman of the LFB admitted to a government committee that they had spent £25,000 on a coffee machine at one of their London centres. How frugal of them!

Another point which should be made is that throughout all their latest takeover efforts, there hasn't been a mention of patient care. Just money. At the end of the day, the ambulance service is there to provide care to the people that needed. The LAS is the largest 'free at point of contact' ambulance service in the world. Like every NHS and organisation it has its faults but on the whole an excellent service is provided to our patients. Yes, savings need to be made and yes, there is always room for improvement but those savings and the improvement needed does not come in the form of the Fire Brigade. The arrogance from 'Pet Rescue' that they could swoop in and save Londoners millions is not only unrealistic but would be a huge risk to our patients. Whats next? Will they want to take control of the police, coast guard and RNLI? They could be an all singing all dancing ultimate emergency service with a huge budget to boot! The could be called the 'London Fire Fighting, Crime Stopping, Life Saving Service'. Maybe then and only then would they be happy. 

What I hope is that the LAS continues to rebuff any attempt by the LFB to gain control. The Cheif Exec Peter Bradley has always been outspoken on the issue and today released the following comments:

“While we are happy to discuss opportunities for greater collaboration between emergency services, we believe it is vital that the London Ambulance Service remains part of the NHS."

“We are an integral part of the health service in the capital, delivering world class care to Londoners, day in day out. Our track record shows we are managing increasing numbers of calls while improving our response to the most seriously ill and injured patients."

“The suggestion that savings of £500m could be made by merging stations is completely unrealistic. We respond to around 1.1m incidents a year with a budget of just £288m - providing excellent value for money."

“Our award winning emergency control room is the busiest in the world. We take nearly 1.5m calls a year – more than all 46 English fires services put together. And it costs Londoners just £30 a head for our service compared to £60 per head for the fire service."

“We do want to work more closely with our emergency partners. Where it is operationally practical, we will look at sharing facilities and at joint purchasing arrangements. We are in the process of organising a meeting at a senior level with the Metropolitan Police Service and the London Fire Brigade to improve collaboration between services.

“However, our job is to deliver clinical care to Londoners and, as the London Assembly review concludes, we can do this most effectively if we remain integrated within the health service.”

Well said! The LAS doesn't need help, it has made significant cuts in it's budget quicker than expected and way over and above that of the fire brigade, and the sooner they leave the LAS alone and get their own house in order the sooner they may start to chip away at their exorbitant overspending.