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

View report page

Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London

London County Council 1959

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

This page requires JavaScript

Text

Copy text to clipboard

LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE
A comprehensive account of the history and work of the ambulance service was given in
my report for 1958.
Some aspects of the work of the service during 1959 and comparisons with earlier years
are shown in the tables below. The steady increase in the numbers of patients carried and
journeys performed is apparent from table (i).
The policy of developing out-patient treatment and day hospitals appears to offer every
prospect of a continuing increase in demand for ambulance transport. The pressure on the
ambulance service is already severe, despite the most careful planning and some increase
in resources, and any further substantial growth of demand will require the provision of
more vehicles and more men.
The general section covers the great bulk of the work and includes all journeys apart
from the conveyance of accident and emergency cases.
General section patients conveyed include some 25,000 patients travelling long distances,
partly by train, who were taken to and from railway stations. Most of these patients were
conveyed at the request of other authorities, but this service initiated arrangements for
about 5,000 of these' ambulance-train-ambulance' journeys.

Table: Table (i)—Work performed by the directly provided service and by the agency and supplementary services, including both General and Accident Section work

Table (i)—Work performed by the directly provided service and by the agency and supplementary services, including both General and Accident Section work

1947194919551956195719581959
Patients:
Accident Section61,13665,98987,16488,60891,80194,07999,834
General Section182,206362,963878,118905,089911,303991,2631,009,128
Total—directly provided service243,342428,952965,282993,6971,003,1041,085,3421,108,962
Joint Committee—9,55721,53924,35825,09024,38226,582
Hospital Car Service—107,667225,959217,527201,436201,161193,523
West Ham C.B.C.—113416378499409496
Total—agency and supplementary services—117,337247,914242,263227,025225,952220,601
Total patients243,342546,2891,213,196*1,235,960*1,230,129*1,311,294*1,329,563*
Journeys:
Accident Section64,56075,90196,66197,82397,53599,188104,983
General Section155,122279.600462,615463,158457,976482,863488,336
Total—directly provided service219,682355,501559,276560,981555,511582,051593,319
Joint Committee_5,71610,11810,83711,7459,71010,250
Hospital Car Service—84,30682,65276,75671,55670,72469,672
West Ham C.B.C.—113414378494403489
Total—agency and supplementary services—90,13593,18487,97183,79580,83780,411
Total journeys219,682445,636652,459648,952639,306662,888673,730
Mileage:
Accident Section362,880410,917488,292491,929485,431495,913524,009
General Section1,768,5502,808,5503,856,8503,736,5503,687,3533,982,3743,980,327
Total—directly provided service2,131,4303,219,4674,345,1424,228,4794,173,7844,478,2874,504,336
Joint Committee—376,564429,980436,927430,373394,145411,823
Hospital Car Service—1,496,0901,425,6241,399,3551,292,1771,224,8171,212,580
West Ham C.B.C.—1,4684,6214,1525,0524,9535,121
Total—agency and supplementary services—1,874,1221,860,2251,840,4341,727,6021,623,9151,629,524
Total mileage2,131,4305,093,5896,205,3676,068,9135,900,3866,102,2026,133,860

Text

Copy text to clipboard

*For 1955 onwards the figures of patients conveyed are based on the Ministry of Health definition of a 'patient',
which differs somewhat from that formerly applied by the Council. Totals for general section work by the directly
provided service and Joint Committee are therefore some 3 per cent. higher and the total for Hospital Car Service
some 80 per cent. higher than totals based on the Council's definition, which is used for all earlier years and in previous
reports.
75