Eddisbury MP Stephen O’Brien calls for better ambulance response times in rural Cheshire

Dec 22 2009 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

CHESHIRE MPs have held talks with the North West Ambulance boss to address the service’s poor response times in the rural area.

MPs Stephen O’Brien MP (Eddisbury) and Edward Timpson (Crewe & Nantwich) had a “constructive” discussion with ambulance chief executive Darren Hurrell at The Swan in Tarporley.

Last year the service only managed to reach 67.31% of life-threatening calls within eight minutes in Western Cheshire.

Mr O’Brien said: “It’s unsatisfactory in that response times need to be improved, particularly in more remote areas.”

The MP has been told of cases where it has taken 40 minutes or a hour for an emergency ambulance to arrive which he dubbed “unacceptable”.

Mr O’Brien, who was joined at the meeting by Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust chief executive Mike Pyrah, has asked for a postcode break-down of incidents to gain an insight into what the service “can and cannot achieve”.

The MPs support the idea of promoting volunteer First Responder scheme in remote areas to “plug the gap”.

But Mr O’Brien continues to argue Cheshire First Responders, who are trained to a higher level than colleagues elsewhere, should be allowed to retain their skill base enabling them to deal with a wider range of incidents.

A Care Quality Commission report showed the North West Ambulance Service last year narrowly missed the target of responding to life-threatening calls across the region within eight minutes, 75% of the time, and only reached serious calls within the 19 minute target, 87.62% of the time – the target being 95%.

Meanwhile, the North West Ambulance Service is looking for members of the public to sign up for the new Community First Responder team in Tarporley.

Residents of the village, which is home to 2,500 people, would need to commit four hours per week or 16 hours a month if they choose to join the voluntary service.

Community First Responder groups are trained to deliver basic life support and defibrillation to heart-attack patients.

Members will not be sent to incidents considered dangerous, such as an assault or road traffic accidents.

For further information visit www.nwas-responders.com or call 01772 903 989.