A Gloucestershire county councillor joins South Western Ambulance Service for what he describes as a ‘very real but reassuring experience’.
Cllr Paul McMahon member of Gloucestershire County Council’s Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) and local county councillor for Coleford spent a day with South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) to find out what it is like for those working in our county’s healthcare.
In Gloucestershire, see South Western Ambulance Service provide accident and emergency and urgent care 24-hours a day, treat all across the county.
Cllr McMahon, price said: “I arrived at the ambulance station in the Forest of Dean not knowing what to expect. We headed out at around 7am and in just 12 hours we had attended a wide variety of incidents – from head injuries to respiratory problems.
“Every day is different for the ambulance staff,” he said. “You just don’t know where your journey is going to take you.”
“What did really hit me was how the crew handled each incident. I was blown away by their professionalism, caring nature and energy. They really are a safe pair of hands and I want people to know that we really are lucky to have a service like it.”
Since heading out with the crew, Cllr McMahon has made it his priority to share his experiences with other members of the HOSC, encouraging them to find out for themselves what it’s like ‘out on the road’.
Neil Le Chevalier, Director of Operations at SWASFT said, “All our crews work extremely hard to deliver the right care to our patients and I am glad Councillor McMahon could see this in action for himself.”
In Gloucestershire, Somerset and Dorset, SWASFT also runs an out-of-hours service. The out-of-hours service is run by dedicated doctors, paramedics, nurses, control assistants, dispatchers and drivers. To contact the out-of-hours service when your GP surgery is closed, call 111.