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Staff
qualifications
Awards to
staff
All the operative staff are qualified to act either as drivers or as attendant
Applicants for appointment are required to be competent to drive a motor car an
to pass an examination held by the Council in their ability to drive an ambulance.
They are also required to hold, or to obtain before the expiration of 6 months probationary
service, a recognised first-aid certificate.
A driver and an attendant are sent on all journeys except when it is clear that only
driver is needed.
During 1958 the London Ambulance Service silver medal for meritorious condu
was presented for only the second time since its introduction by the Council in 1938.
Driver P. S. W. Poole, together with a Police Constable, in the course of his duty
grappled with a man of unsound mind who was brandishing two knives and uttering
threats against their lives. The man was eventually disarmed but in the course of the
struggle Driver Poole was injured in the hand. He continued with his duties until the
patient had been admitted to hospital before seeking first-aid for his injury. His action
was considered by the Council to merit the award of the silver medal and this was
presented to Driver Poole by the Chairman of the Council at a Council Meeting on
18 March, 1958.
One station officer and four drivers in the Accident section of the Service were
awarded the Royal Humane Society's Resuscitation Certificate during the year.
Of 763 drivers who were entered in the National Safe Driving Competition held
by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in 1957, 80 per cent gained awards.
Only 7 per cent were disqualified, the remaining 13 per cent being accounted for by
resignations and by exemptions owing to prolonged illness. One driver received
35 years' medal, the highest award yet gained in the Service, and it is gratifying to record
that four drivers hold awards for over 30 years safe driving and nine for 25 years or
more.
Vehicles
Equipment
Replacement
programme
The total operational vehicle strength at the end of 1958 was 335 comprising 230
ambulances, 62 single stretcher ambulances mainly used for sitting patients, 34 sittingcase
cars, 6 ambulance buses, two tenders and a mobile control unit for use at major
accidents.
Each of the ambulances operating in the Accident section carries, in addition to the
normal first-aid equipment, a comprehensive range of special equipment and appliances,
including oxygen resuscitation apparatus, sterile surgical instruments, drugs, a carryingchair,
a hack-saw, rope and special apparatus for raising and lowering injured persons
from positions difficult of access. A full list of equipment is given in Annex B.
The ambulances attached to the general stations are provided with first-aid kits to
enable crews to treat any injured persons they may encounter while engaged on their
normal duties of sick removal.
In formulating a vehicle replacement programme, the growing demand from
hospital out-patient departments, with the consequent need for a higher proportion
of sitting-case vehicles, has been taken into account. To meet this need and to secure
more economical running and maintenance, the large ambulances at present in use will
be replaced by a new and more economical type of ambulance or by smaller dualpurpose
vehicles. Most of the motor cars, also, which are less economical of
accommodation, will be replaced by more suitable vehicles.
The new type ambulance has been designed and produced in the Mechanical Works
Division of the Council's Supplies Department to the special requirements of the
service and this vehicle, whilst preserving the same low loading level and accommodation
for patients as in the existing large ambulance, is smaller in over-all dimensions,
lighter in weight and more economical in operation. The chassis can be fitted with
either petrol or diesel engine and the body is made of glass-reinforced polyester resin.
Nine of these vehicles were in operation at the end of 1958.
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