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(b) to train members of the ambulance and casualty collecting section of
the Civil Defence Corps, and also peace-time ambulance staff, in Civil Defence
ambulance duties and
(c) to make plans for the provision of a service for the collection and
removal of casualties and for the maintenance of that service in conjunction
with the ambulance service.
In war-time, the ambulance service will have three functions :
(a) the conveyance of the ordinary sick and injured to and from hospital
(b) the conveyance of casualties caused by enemy action to hospital and,
when required, to assist in the transfer of patients from one hospital to another
and
(c) the rendering of first-aid to casualties and conveying them to ambulance
loading points.
The responsibility for the collection and carriage of casualties over the debris to the
waiting ambulances led to the name of the section being altered to the Ambulance and
Casualty Collecting Section in 1954.
The section enrols both men and women volunteers, irrespective of whether they
can drive or not. In London there were 1,623 volunteers at the end of 1958 of whom
women were in a majority.
Training is given at a number of ambulance stations with suitable lecture room
facilities in London and also at a social and training centre at the South Bank, S.E.I. The
following subjects are included :
(a) defence against the various forms of attack that might be used in any
future war
(b) first-aid
(c) blanketing of stretchers, carriage of patients, ambulance loading etc.
(d) map reading
(e) duties of the peace-time service
(/) practical exercises with the aid of faked casualties and simulated wartime
conditions
(g) vehicle maintenance
(h) driving practice for those holding driving licences
(i) driving tuition for those who do not hold current licences. Tuition is
dependent on reaching a certain stage of training and also displaying a reasonable
aptitude for learning to drive during the early tuition lessons. There is no
charge to the individual volunteer for tuition nor for the licence or driving
test fees. If successful in passing the driving test, volunteers continue with
driving practice
(j) elementary rescue
(k) a special revision course for the selection of potential officers.
Training is given by officers and staff of the London Ambulance Service, many of
whom qualified as Civil Defence instructors at the Home Office Technical Training
School at Falfield, Gloucestershire. Sixty-five training courses in various subjects were
held in 1958.
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