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SECTION 27: AMBULANCE SERVICE.
The organisation of the service remained unchanged during the past year with
responsibility divided as follows:-
Medical Officer of Health - Organisation and administration.
Borough Engineer - Provision, maintenance and manning of vehicles.
Chief Officer, Fire Brigade - Operational control of ambulances.
The Ambulance Officer and his assistant, who are on the staff of the Health
Department, are responsible to the Medical Officer of Health for the day to day
administration of the service, the advance bookings for ambulances and also all bookings
for ambulance cars, and act as liaison officers with the other two heads of services
involved. Following the retirement of the Ambulance Officer in the early part of the year,
another member of the Health Department staff was appointed as acting Ambulance Officer
pending reconsideration of the service organisation.
In January, the Health Committee decided that provision for equipping the Council's
ambulance fleet with radio-telephone equipment should be deleted from the estimates, following
prolonged consideration of this matter over the previous years. It had been concluded
from a controlled trial, arranged through the courtesy of a firm of equipment manufacturers,
that the advantages of radio-control in this area did not justify the expense.
Liaison has been maintained with the appropriate hospital groups, other neighbouring
authorities and also between Council departments for the purpose of discussing and overcoming
inter-service difficulties which may have arisen; securing such economies as were possible
and ensuring that the best practical use was made of the service.
Following receipt of Ministry Circulars preliminary consideration was given to the
co-ordination of the hospital services with other services in dealing with major civil
disasters which result in large numbers of casualties, and also to the carriage by ambulance
personnel of patients within the hospital premises which involve consideration of indemnity
from the hospital authorities.
Satisfactory progress was made in these considerations.
Operational vehicles consist of 11 ambulances (including 1 reserve vehicle) and up to
11 ambulance cars, the latter being provided by the Borough Engineer from the Council's
passenger car fleet, and including one 8-seater vehicle designed specifically for sitting case
work. These vehicles are deployed as follows:-
Ambulances.
Stratford Fire Station. - 1.
Plaistow Fire Station. - 4.
Silvertown Fire Station. - 1.
Transport Depot. - 5 (Including reserve vehicle).
Ambulance Cars.
Transport Department. - 11.
Transport is provided only upon the request of hospitals or doctors, except in cases
of accident or emergency. In addition to conveying patients to and from hospital, the service
provides transport for the "gas and air" analgesia sets used in connection with the Council's
Domiciliary Midwifery Service.
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