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The present strength of the service is:—
1 Headquarters Ambulance Station
6 General Ambulance Stations
17 Accident Ambulance Stations
270 ambulances
26 ambulance-buses
11 Single-stretcher ambulances
21 sitting case cars
625 operative staff including Superintendents and Station Officers
Present
strength
of service
The increasing demand for ambulance transport has necessitated the planning
of additional vehicle accommodation at some of the general ambulance stations.
Plans have also been prepared for the erection of three additional accident
ambulance stations.
Future
development
REPORT FOR 1949
This service operates under the immediate supervision of Mr. A. G. Hellman,
O.B.E., the officer-in-charge.
Increase in demand for ambidance service
The demand for ambulance transport which took an immediate and substantial
upward trend upon the introduction of the National Health Service on 5th July,
1948, continued to increase steadily throughout 1949, and only by the most
efficient and economic use of available resources was it possible for the Service to
carry out its statutory obligations. At the end of 1948 the number of patients
removed daily was 35 per cent. greater than at the beginning of the year and it was
then felt that some levelling out of demand might reasonably be expected. In
December, 1949, however, the number of patients removed by general section
ambulances was over 8,000 more than in January, 1949—an increase of nearly
30 per cent.—while the number of calls dealt with by the accident section during
the corresponding months showed an increase of 799—nearly 14 per cent. Even
more striking were the mileage figures which showed that during 1949 the mileage run
by directly provided, agency and supplementary service vehicles was over 3 million
more than the mileage run by London Ambulance Service vehicles in 1947.
Agency arrangements
As a consequence of the recruitment of additional operative staff to the Service
during 1949, and the increased use of trains for the greater part of long journeys,
there was a falling off in the number of removals passed to the Home Service
Ambulance Department of the Joint Committee of the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem and the British Red Cross Society. The number of journeys carried out
by that organisation on behalf of the Council was 318 in December, as against 585
in the first month of the year.
Home
Ambulance
Service
The work of the County of London Hospital Car Service on the other hand
steadily increased from 4,319 journeys in January to 7,167 in December. In
November a letter was sent to all the hospitals from whom orders for this service
were received stressing the need for economy, and appealing for their co-operation
in ensuring that cars were ordered only in cases of medical necessity, but in spite
of this the demand continued to increase.
Hospital
Car Service
The West Ham County Borough Council continued to provide ambulance
services on behalf of the Council in that part of Woolwich which is north of the
Thames but, following negotiations, it was agreed that, in future, the Council would
pay for such services at the nationally agreed rate of 2s. a mile instead of at a fixed
rate per journey as formerly.
West Ham
County
Borough
Council