BBC Young Reporter @ LCS
How fast does the ambulance come to your service?
By: Makael
Recently there has been concerns over how fast the ambulance service takes to get to patients all over Britain as is another issue facing the already over-stretched N.H.S.
In some agricultural areas, the nearest ambulance service could be too far away to reach them in time. This is particularly worrying during life-threatening situations.
On average, the response time for ambulances in rural areas are 11 minutes compared to 7 minutes in the urban areas. This makes a huge difference especially if patients are in critical conditions, where every minute delayed reduces survival by 10%.
A teacher from Derby, Mr Selvey, gave his opinion on this matter.
“There should be more money invested into the ambulance service and more medically residents should live in rural areas including trained paramedics”.
Ambulance services say they respond to the highest-priority cases first, this includes cardiac arrests, stab wounds, seizures and patients struggling to breathe.
Judy O'Sullivan, of the BHF, said it was "critical" that expert help from the ambulance services arrived as "quickly as possible", but she said CPR from ordinary members of the public was also vital. This is why the NHS are encouraging people to learn CPR.
Patients who are in need for ambulance should have the choice of living, if the ambulance service is nearby then the ambulance won’t have to put the patient at risk. If ambulance stations are nearby rural areas, then the patient at the rural area won’t be at risk.
There should be more money invested into the ambulance service and more medically residents should live in rural areas including trained paramedics
