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Volunteer Medical Staff Corps and the police in dealing with casualties on occasions
of public processions and gatherings of large numbers of persons in the streets.
At that time accidents and cases of sudden illness in the streets were dealt with
mainly by the police, who had to use a hand litter or to commandeer a passing
vehicle to convey the patient to a hospital or other place where he could receive
medical aid. Wheeled litters, introduced in 1880, were an improvement but, as
ambulance work was hardly one of their main duties, the police did not feel
justified in going to the heavy expense of installing a complete system of such
litters. In 1889 Mr. H. L. Bischoffscheim established, at his own expense, a service
of 62 wheeled litters operating from police stations and, concurrently, the number of
police litters of which there had been only 73 in 1883, increased until in 1909 there
were nearly 400. These two services were still lurther supplemented by the St. John
Ambulance Association, whose 35 first-aid stations in London had each a wheeled
litter, a stretcher, or both. At some stations trained men were on duty during the
day. Finally, there were the horse ambulances provided by the Guardians to convey
patients to and from the infirmaries and workhouses. In 1907 the City Corporation
inaugurated for the City an electric motor ambulance service and a system of 52
street call boxes.
Careful observation during 1898 showed that in a period of four weeks 994
injured persons were taken to the ten principal London hospitals otherwise than on
their legs. Of these, 642 arrived in cabs or carts, 302 in police litters, etc., and 50
in other ways. It was estimated that 70 per cent. of the casualties were taken to
hospital in some entirely unsuitable conveyance which was very likely to aggravate
their illness or injury. The Superintendent of Guy's Hospital said at the time, " It
is very painful to watch the arrival of accidents at hospitals under the present
system."
The Council in 1906 tried unsuccessfully to obtain from Parliament power to
provide a motor ambulance service and the necessary staff. In 1909 a departmental
committee of the Government reported on the whole question and by a majority
recommended that the Metropolitan Asylums Board should be empowered to provide
ambulances for non-infectious and accident cases. Sir William Collins, however, a
member both of the Committee and of the Council, opposed the suggestion and
introduced into Parliament on his own account a Bill to confer the powers on the
Council. The House of Commons passed this Bill in preference to one based on the
recommendations of the departmental committee. The Council thereupon sought to
organise into one system ambulances belonging to the Metropolitan Asylums
Board, the Port of London Authority and some of the metropolitan boards of
guardians but the attempt was not successful and on 10th March, 1914, the Council
decided to form an entirely independent accident ambulance service of its own.
Development
Stimulated by the gift of a then up-to-date motor ambulance by the late
Grand Duke Michael of Russia, the new service was first put into operation in
February, 1915, under the control of the Chief Officer of the Fire Brigade. A
station was opened in Fulham in February, 1915, and five other stations, located in
Bloomsbury, Shoreditch, Newington, Lee and Brixton, before the end of the year.
Nine ambulances were provided, manned by an operative staff of 50. From the
figure of 2,405 recorded in 1915, the number of calls mounted steadily during the
years until in 1928 the number of calls received was 41,189. To cope with the ever
increasing amount of work, more ambulance stations were opened and by 1928
numbered thirteen. Poplar station opened in 1922, Battersea, Highbury and
Paddington in 1924, Woolwich in 1925, and Westminster and Old Kent Road in
1926. Three years later, in 1929, Hackney Station was opened and at the time of