London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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London County Council 1950

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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72
the London Ambulance Service and have resulted in a fuller understanding of the
problems and difficulties with which both are beset at the present time.
A full account of the history of the service was given in the report for 1949.
National agreement on ambulance charges
In October, 1950, a further conference of representatives of the County Councils
Association, the Association of Municipal Corporations and the London County
Council was convened to consider a revision of the basis of charges and allocation of
cost between local health authorities in respect of the provision of ambulance transport
and to discuss the possibility of agreement among local health authorities as
to the interpretation of (a) certain recommendations contained in the published
report of the Conferences held in 1949, and (b) the provisions of section 24 of the
National Health (Amendment) Act, 1949.
General agreement was reached on all matters discussed and it was referred to
the financial advisers of the respective bodies to submit recommendations for a
revised standard rate of charge and for a uniform system of accounting procedure.
Statistics
(i) Directly Provided Service
Under this head the Service is divided into two sections—Accident and General.
The Accident Section, as is shown in the analysis of calls below, deals not only
with street accidents and other emergencies but also with the bulk of maternity
removals, including the conveyance of analgesia apparatus to women being confined
at home.
All other removals, including the conveyance of persons suffering from infectious
diseases are dealt with by the General Section.
Comparative statistics for 1938 (the last full year before the war), 1947 (the last
full year before the operation of the National Health Service Act, 1946) and subsequent
years:—

Accident Section

No. of callsNo. of cases (patients conveyed)Mileage
193856,31858,196293,166
194764,56066,143362,880
194866,37367,676367,627
194975,90177,380410,917
195083,79185,376437,416

A detailed classification of all calls received by this section is recorded on punched
cards, an analysis of which reveals the following items of general interest:—
The average time taken to reach street accidents was 7.2 minutes, the same as
in 1949.
The period of greatest pressure commenced between 10 and 11 a.m. and continued
until 6 p.m.; after that there was a sharp rise in the number of calls received between
10 p.m. and midnight and the lowest number of calls was received between 6 a.m. and
7 a.m.
The number of calls (404) dealt with by the Accident Section on Friday, 22nd
December, 1950, was the greatest in any one day since the inception of the service
in 1915—with the exception of Coronation Day, 12th May, 1937, when the number was
457.