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The Ministry of Health suggested that the best arrangement to be
made for the period of the present emergency would be to transfer
the ambulances to the A.R.P. Ambulance Service for the purpose
of manning, accommodation, and servicing. The Ministry of
Health issued a Circular in which this view was confirmed, and in
which the following suggestions were made as being the most
satisfactory method of dealing with the matter:—
(i) That Ambulances should be attached to a Civil Defence
Ambulance Depot in the same locality as the Fire Brigade
Station in which they have been based in the past.
(ii) That suitable trained male or female staff, who are fully
qualified and experienced in first aid, should always be
available to man the ambulances; and that satisfactory
arrangements should be made to ensure that telephone
calls can be received and an ambulance sent out without
delay at any time during the day or night.
(iii) That the Ambulances should be used for conveying air
raid casualties when no vehicles of the Civil Defence
Ambulance Service proper are available.
(iv) That the Ambulances should be removed from the Fire
Station premises and be maintained and serviced in the
same way as the Civil Defence Ambulances; but that, in
view of their special equipment, they should be garaged
under cover and that where suitable existing accommodation
is not available proposals to provide special accommodation
should be submitted to the Senior Regional Officer for
approval.
In September, 1942, your Council, in response to the instructions
of the Government Departments, decided that a garage with
sleeping accommodation and rest room be built in Auckland Road;
and that the civil ambulances be manned by members of the Civil
Defence Ambulance Service. At a later date the Ministry of
Health declined to sanction the inclusion of sleeping accommodation
and a rest room in the new garage building.
In May, 1943, the Council authorised the Medical Officer of
Health to take charge of the Civil Ambulance Service, which was
transferred to the control of the Emergency Committee.
On 1st October, 1943, the Council's three civil ambulances and
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equipment were transferred from Harrow Green Fire Station to the
new Auckland Road Garage; and since that date they have been
operated by members of the Civil Defence Ambulance Service.