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80
The accident section of the service dealt with 81,800 patients in 1953 as compared
with 78,692 in 1952, an increase of 3 per cent. Statistics giving details of this total are
to be found on pages 84 and 85.
Frequent calls are made to the headquarters control room describing emergencies
in which it is clear that medical assistance, not an ambulance, is needed and in such a
case the caller is either recommended to summon the patient's own general practitioner
or is given particulars of other local medical practitioners who may be called upon.
1,167 such calls were dealt with in 1953.
Decentralisation
Reference was made in the 1952 report to the review of the various clerical and
operational procedures employed in the service. Further changes in procedure were
adopted during 1953 with the three-fold aim of reducing the pressure upon the central
control room, simplifying the control work at the general ambulance stations and
promoting still closer association between the hospitals and their local ambulance
stations. In furtherance of the last-mentioned aim, more hospitals were brought into the
scheme of decentralisation and each general station was provided with an additional
exchange telephone line for the use of hospitals in giving orders directly to the appropriate
stations for in-county removals, other than those of infectious or mentally-ill
patients which continued to be dealt with through the central control room. More
hospitals, also, were brought into the arrangement under which ambulance vehicles
are stationed at the hospitals for varying periods on weekdays to convey patients to
and from those hospitals on the instructions of the hospital transport officers. These
developments were of value in reducing delays and have commended themselves to
the hospitals they are designed to serve.
Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
The Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 2ndjune, 1953, brought immense
crowds to London for the ceremony and for the attendant celebrations and the arrangements
for ensuring the speedy removal of casualties from amongst all these people
necessitated careful planning. For Coronation Day itself, special arrangements were
made in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police and other authorities and these
worked very smoothly.
The ordinary work of the general section was greatly reduced on Coronation Day
because of the virtual suspension of out-patient treatment work on that day and this
enabled a large number of ambulances to be released for special duties : 39 were
concentrated at 22 of the dressing stations established by the St. John Ambulance
Brigade and the British Red Cross Society at points near the Royal Route and, together
with six ambulances provided by the Home Service Ambulance Department, they
removed a total of 173 casualties in response to 157 calls. During the Coronation period
the number of accident section ambulances on duty throughout the County was increased
and their hours of duty were extended. These precautions proved to be well justified
for, between midnight on 1st June and midnight on 2nd June, these ambulances dealt
with the record number of 440 calls.
A special task of the Council on Coronation Day was the assembly of over 30,000
schoolchildren from London and the Home Counties on the Victoria Embankment to
see the Royal procession and special arrangements were made for dealing with casualties
among them. Happily, casualties were very few and, in fact, only one child had to be
removed by ambulance.
In recognition of the work of the London Ambulance Service during the Coronation
period, Her Majesty the Queen was graciously pleased to bestow the Coronation
Medal upon Mr. W. P. Hummerstone, the Assistant Officer-in-Charge, and upon
Mr. W. H. Taylor, the Chief Superintendent.