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Ambulance services ‘not coping’ as demand rises

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Ambulance crews are finding it “increasingly difficult to cope”, an audit of the service in England says.

The warning by the National Audit Office comes just two months after a BBC investigation highlighted increasing delays answering 999 calls.

The NAO said rising demand, recruitment problems and wider NHS pressures meant crews were failing to hit targets.

It comes as NHS bosses are looking at relaxing the eight-minute target for calls where it may not be necessary.

In November the BBC revealed ambulances were increasingly being delayed outside A&E units as hospital staff were too busy to take on the patients being brought in.

And the investigation found just one of the 13 services in the UK was meeting its key target – the eight-minute goal to reach the most life-threatening cases.

This NAO review just looked at performance in England. It too highlighted these problems and urged NHS bosses to review what was happening.

It pointed to the discrepancy between the rise in demand – 30% over four years – compared to the rise in budget – 16% over the same period.

NAO head Amyas Morse said action was needed as ambulances were a “vital” part of the service.

Christina McAnea, of Unison, which represents ambulance staff, said: “There’s simply not enough money to cope.”

NHS England said steps were being taken. Ambulances have been given longer to assess calls before a response needs to be sent – about a quarter of crews are called back before they reach the scene because call handlers have to make quick decisions about who needs an emergency response.

Three ambulance services – South Western, Yorkshire and West Midlands – are piloting a scheme which is seeing some urgent calls, such as strokes and fits, re-categorised as not needing an eight-minute response. Evidence suggests such quick responses are not necessary in these cases.

Prof Keith Willett, of NHS England, said: “These trials are designed to makes sure ambulances focus on the right priority – getting to the most urgent patients in the quickest possible time and improving the service to all patients who dial 999.”

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Cheap Pulse Oximeter

emergency medical products

Contec 50DL Fingertip Pulse Oximeter

CMS50DL
£19.00

 

Introduction

The CMS50DL Pulse Oximeter is one of the best value pulse oximeters on the market today.

The product is suitable for being used in the following environments, home, hospital,  community healthcare, physical care in sports (It can be used before or after doing sports, and it is not recommended to use the device during the sporting activities as the device is likely to fly off the finger and be damaged.

 

Main Features

■ Integrated SpO2 probe and processing display module

■ Small size、lightweight and convenient to carry

■ Simple to Operate, low power consumption ensuring long battery life

■ Clear SpO2 value display

■ Pulse rate value display, bar graph display

■ Low-voltage indication: low-voltage indicator appears before working abnormally which is due to low-voltage

■ Automatically power off function:  it will automatically power off within 5 seconds if the finger is removed from the probe

Colours do vary

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We are here to help

emergency medical products

We are here to help, One of the services that helps set as aside from other companies is our willingness to search for products that we don’t normally stock. So if you don’t see it on the web site call us, it doesn’t cost any extra.

There are some limitations, we don’t do drugs and sometimes we are restricted by the manufacturer agreements that are already in place.

This willingness makes us the ideal source if you have a shopping list that needs gathering together and we work with various procurement companies on a regular basis

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Our New Web Site

emergency medical products

Welcome to the new web site from Wessex Medical. I hope this web site will allow us to offer more products and for the checkout procedure to be a more reliable experience for our customers. This site is also the first time I haven’t designed it, for the first time I’ve let my baby develop from someone else’s thoughts and what a great job they have done.

We look forward to welcoming you to the website and hope you also find time to join in with the new blog

Alan