Report for Swanage Town Council Meeting 18th September 2023
A) Ambulance Car
Data from Freedom of information act response from the Ambulance Trust for the
first half of this year, January- June 2023. The data relates to
- The Swanage based Ambulance Car staffing, number of call outs, and location of call outs each month
- The average emergency response times for Swanage & Wareham, regardless of the vehicle attending, by category, and by month
There is some good news
- Car staffing: this has improved from about 67% staffing in the previous 6 month period (July-Dec 22), to 73% over the period Jan-June 23. This is not higher because staff continue to be taken off the Car to make up gaps in the double crewed Ambulance rota. However it’s worth noting that the Car is staffed almost twice as much as it was when the future of the car was uncertain, when staffing was only 40%.
- 71% of Car call outs are in Purbeck. This is similar to the period July-Dec 22 (70%) and an increase compared to the period Jan-June 22 (60%). 74% of the Purbeck call outs for Jan-June 23 are to Swanage, compared to 68% for the six months July-Dec 22.
- Response times continue to improve overall, and there are some significant improvements compared to the second half of last year, although results are patchy and targets were not met in any month:
- a. Category 1, imminent danger of death – the target response time to maximise the chance to save life is 7 minutes. For the period January – June 23, just over 8 minutes was the best average category 1 response time for Swanage (achieved in January). For Wareham, just over 9 minutes was the best category 1 response time (achieved in March). The best category 1 response time achieved in any month during the second half of last year was 11 minutes (for Swanage in September and November, and for Wareham November).
For Swanage, the other 5 months of the first half of this year had category 1 response times between 10 -14 minutes (compared to up to 17 minutes in the second half of last year). For Wareham the other 5 months had category 1 response times between 10-12 minutes (compared to up to 16 minutes in the second half of last year). Going further back: for January – June 22, the best average Category 1 response time achieved for Swanage was just under 12 minutes in June, however for 2 of the other 5 months the average Category 1 response times were over 20 minutes (for example they were 26 minutes in May, when the Car was only staffed 33% of the time). - b. Category 2, risk of death or serious disability – the target response time here is 20 minutes. Swanage monthly average times for the period January – June 23 were between 34 – 46 minutes (the best that was achieved in the second half of last year was just under an hour). For Wareham, monthly average times for the first half of this year were between 25 and 44 minutes. Going back to January – June 22, the category 2 average response times for Swanage and Wareham were significantly worse at over an hour 4 months out of 6.
- a. Category 1, imminent danger of death – the target response time to maximise the chance to save life is 7 minutes. For the period January – June 23, just over 8 minutes was the best average category 1 response time for Swanage (achieved in January). For Wareham, just over 9 minutes was the best category 1 response time (achieved in March). The best category 1 response time achieved in any month during the second half of last year was 11 minutes (for Swanage in September and November, and for Wareham November).
However, Ambulance Car Call Outs are dropping:
Despite staffing continuing to improve, the number of call outs attended by the Ambulance Car continues to drop significantly – just 314 call outs for the period January – June 2023. This is significantly less than the 421 call outs attended July – December 22, which was also down on the 466 call outs attended January – June According to a 2019 FOI response just under 500 Purbeck call outs were attended by an Ambulance Car over a 6 month period in 2019. We need to go back to SWAST and ask for an explanation.
B) Swanage Town Council letter asking questions about access for Swanage and Purbeck patients to reconfigured health services, handed in at ‘Our Dorset’ event at the Mowlem on 29th June
STC has had a detailed response to our letter. However some key matters remain unclear and we hope these will be further clarified at the meeting with UHD in October. (eg what mitigation will there be for local residents facing longer emergency journey times, what will the Poole Urgent Treatment Centre treat that Swanage MIU does not and how will self-presenting patients know whether to go to either or to A&E, what are the promised enhanced local services and why are oncology and rheumatology outpatients clinics at Wareham and Swanage hospitals being closed?)
C) Meeting with University Hospitals Dorset in October
Following meeting UHD staff at the Our Dorset event on 29th June to raise questions and concerns, the CE and Chair of UHD (Poole and RBH) have agreed to meet in Swanage on Monday 23rd October, probably in Swanage Hospital. People attending will include representatives from Swanage TC, Corfe PC and Swanage and Wareham Hospitals. At the moment Cllrs Suttle, Trite and I are confirmed for STC Depending on the room capacity I hope an invite can be extended to other STC Councillors.
Update October 23: This meeting was postponed by University Hospitals Dorset due to one of their representatives sadly having a recent bereavement. I am working to reschedule.
Cllr Debby Monkhouse
