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LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE
The tables below show some aspects of the work of this Service and of its agency and
supplementary services in 1960.
Table (i) illustrates the continuing increase in the numbers of patients carried and of
journeys performed. For the directly provided service the figures for 1960 are of especial
interest in view of a serious staff shortage which became increasingly acute towards the
end of the year.
Despite these difficulties the general section alone carried over 24,000 more patients than
in 1959, although the average number of ambulances on the road at any given time in 1960
was probably less than in 1959. The number of general section journeys increased slightly
but the mileage decreased considerably, from 3,980,327 in 1959 to 3,960,964 in 1960. These
results reflect a gratifying reduction in the average mileage per patient and journey and an
increase in the number of patients carried per journey. In short, the intensity of the work
has increased. There have been corresponding changes in the work of the agency and
supplementary services. The figure on page 75 shows these trends since the inception of the
National Health Service.