Welsh Government ministers must declare “ambulance emergency” say opposition politicians

Welsh government ministers must declare “ambulance emergency”, say opposition politicians.

It comes after the Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed that it requested support from the military in a bid to ease some of the pressures being faced ahead of what is expected to be a difficult winter.

The Trust has submitted a request for additional support to Welsh Government under the Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) arrangement.

If approved, it will be the third time that soldiers have supported the service through the pandemic.

More than 200 British Army soldiers have already assisted the Trust’s Covid-19 effort by driving and decontaminating ambulance vehicles as part of Operation Rescript.

Among them were 90 soldiers from 9 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, who were enlisted on Christmas Eve at the height of the second wave of the pandemic.

More broadly, more than 20,000 military personnel have been supporting public services across the UK during the pandemic as part of a ‘COVID Support Force’.

Leading a debate in the Senedd yesterday, Conservative Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS called for “immediate action from the Welsh Government to support the ambulance service and also to ensure that the people of Wales get the ambulance service that they deserve and need.”

There have been 47,871 lost hours because of the delays in moving people from ambulances into hospitals in the first six months of this year, and only just over half of red calls – the most serious emergencies – reached their patients within the eight-minute target this July.

Mr George relayed the experience of a resident in his constituency who was asked by the ambulance service themselves to take their family member with a suspected heart attack to hospital themselves.

He said: “Our debate today is couched in that way. It’s about support for the ambulance service and making sure that they receive the support that they need from the Welsh Government.

“But, be in no doubt: the ambulance service is in crisis. It’s not just in near-crisis. It’s in crisis now, and it has been in crisis for some months. We need immediate action from the Welsh Government to support the ambulance service and also to ensure that the people of Wales get the ambulance service that they deserve and need.

“Now, I think that the Government first of all need to accept that the ambulance service is in crisis. You can’t resolve a problem unless you accept that there is a problem. Now, I hope that this Chamber will know that I am not somebody who throws around statements and words easily; I choose my words carefully.

“So, I stand by that: the ambulance service is in a crisis.”

He called on the Welsh Government to improve access to primary care appointments, redouble the efforts for a “rapid recruitment of paramedics”, mobilise members of the public and former healthcare professionals to join their local NHS teams, establish routes of support for NHS staff, care workers and families who have experienced the trauma of the pandemic and to set out a plan and timetable to raise the wages of care workers, as we called for also in our manifesto earlier this year.

Liberal Democrat MS Jane Dodds described the situation as a “perfect storm of ambulance waiting times”, with patients needing to stay in hospital due to the lack of social care, increased use of our services and health and social care workers being stressed and exhausted and taking time off sick.

She said: “We cannot wait another decade to see change.

“The health Minister helpfully said earlier this month that it would take significant time to introduce the reforms necessary for the NHS and social care system, but this needs to be about people.

“And I would just appeal to us all to work together to develop a plan and support that plan that clearly addresses this health and social care crisis.”

Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru MS for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, spoke of a constituent in Abererch who had to wait for 15 hours for an ambulance.

Reference was also made to the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, which earlier this week urged people to only attend the A&E department if necessary due to significant pressure.

Conservative MS for North Wales Mark Isherwood said “waiting times at Wrexham Maelor A&E department have got to atrocious levels” and that the “issue was that there is no space to see patients.”

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said it would not be appropriate for the Welsh Government to declare an emergency in the Welsh Ambulance Service, but agreed that there is a problem that needs to be resolved.

She also cited issues about staffing levels, with many facing burnout after a year of the pandemic, isolation, sickness and annual leave.

She said: “Welsh ambulance staff have been working to their limit, and often going beyond what could be reasonably expected of them over the course of the pandemic. And of course, that is impacting on staff morale and well-being.

“There’s also been a reduced uptake of overtime, which has prompted the trust to consider options to incentivise overtime in order to make it more appealing to staff to fill gaps, and increase capacity over the forthcoming months.

“Now, practical requirements, including the need to don personal protective equipment and deep cleaning equipment, and vehicles for each ambulance response.

“Don’t forget, we’re working in a COVID environment; it changes what they do usually to something more difficult and more sophisticated. And that also impacts therefore on ambulance availability and responsiveness at times of peak demand.

“Now, these capacity-limiting factors have been accentuated by difficulties in timely discharge of patients from hospital which, again, so many Members alluded to, and this reduces available hospital beds and causes delays for the transfer of patients from ambulance crews to the emergency department staff.

“Despite all of these challenges, almost 60 per cent of immediately life-threatened patients received a response within eight minutes in July. Almost a third of these patients received a response within five minutes.

“Now, I don’t think it would be appropriate for the Welsh Government to declare an emergency in the Welsh ambulance service, but of course we accept there is a problem here that needs to be resolved.

“The trust is taking actions to transition from the recovery phase of its COVID-19 effort back to the response phase, the monitoring position, in response to the current and anticipated pressures. Now, this places the trust on a similar footing to when we were at the height of the pandemic, so I’m underlining the point that the problem now is as great as it was at the point of the greatest risk in terms of the pandemic.

“That gives a stark perspective on the level of the pressure the service continues to experience.

“The Welsh Ambulance Service has been considering a number of options to supplement existing capacity, including exploring options with a number of national agencies.

” So, the trust has already contracted St John Ambulance Cymru to support additional support over the busy winter months, and the trust has also been working with military planners as part of the MACA, or the military aid to the civil authorities process, which the First Minister explained in the Chamber yesterday.

“The Welsh Government received the MACA from the trust earlier today, and both the First Minister and I have now agreed that that should now be passed on as a formal request.”

A spokesperson for Joint Military Command Wales said: “Defence remains ready to offer support to civil authorities in the UK and we will work with the Welsh Government and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to understand their requirements and offer assistance where appropriate.

“Since March 2020, Defence has supported more than 450 Military Aid to Civilian Authority (MACA) requests as part of the Covid Response Force.”