View report page

SECTION 27: AMBULANCE SERVICE.
The organisation of the service remained unchanged during the 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 Acting 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, advance bookings for ambulances and ambulance cars, and act as liaison
officers with the other departments concerned. The ambulance control is manned by two
Assistant Controllers, who work on overlapping shifts covering the period from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
on weekdays, the remainder of the twenty-four hours, Sundays, and bank holidays being
covered by Fire Brigade personnel.
Operational vehicles are deployed as follows:-
Ambulances:
Stratford Fire Station - 1
Plaistow Fire Station - 4
Silvertown Fire Station - 1
Transport Depot - 4 and 1 reserve vehicle.
Ambulance Cars:
Transport Depot - 11
The latter are provided from the Council's passenger car fleet, and include one
8-seater sitting case vehicle.
Except in cases of emergency, or accident, transport is provided only if requested
by a doctor or hospital. The service also provides transport for the "gas and air" analgesia
sets used in connection with the Domiciliary Midwifery service; premature baby equipment is
also available and can be conveyed to a case requiring it at a few minutes1 notice. Arrangements
are made for patients making long journeys to travel by rail; apart from being more
economical and convenient thai! providing an ambulance for the whole journey, this usually
means that the patient has a more comfortable journey, and one which is completed in a shorter
time.
The diagrams below show the work done by the service since 1949 (its first full year
of operation); the demand, in terms of the number of patients carried, is virtually unchanged,
as forecast in last year's report, and the decrease in mileage per patient shows that
efficiency is still increasing slightly.
70