Police offer to transport patients to hospital in Cornwall due to massive pressure
Urgent care services in Cornwall are currently experiencing a 'crisis'
Last updated 4th Aug 2021
Police volunteers could be brought in to use 4×4 vehicles to transport people to and from hospital due to the current crisis in urgent care services in Cornwall.
A meeting of the NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) governing body heard that the police had offered support due to the continued pressure on ambulance services.
After a major incident was declared multi agency meetings were held in Cornwall to assess what could be done to ease the pressure on health services.
With increased demand due to the number of visitors in Cornwall for the summer combined with the pressures of Covid-19 and shortages in staff there have been reports of health services coming under sustained pressure.
This has included queues of ambulances being pictured outside the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
Clare Bryan, chief finance officer, told the governing body that support from other agencies had included an offer to help from the police.
She said: “Declaring a major incident does have some benefits as well as it enables a multi agency response. The police have come in with 4×4 vehicles, which sometimes assist during winter pressures, they came to our aid, they are helping to transport people to and from hospital where we see the pressures on the ambulance service.
“The major incident is allowing a more constructive response".
It has since confirmed that force staff are not currently transporting patients, but police volunteers are on standby to help out.
Details about the police assisting with help came up in one of several discussions at the governing body about the current situation with health services in Cornwall.
Dr Rob White, urgent and emergency care lead clinician, said: “Our system is running further hot than I have ever seen in my career. All parts of our system are under massive pressure, the workforce is under massive pressure due to covid, self-isolation and burn out.
“There is not one person in the healthcare system who doesn’t want to provide good care to the people of Cornwall.
“We have 111 and we have, in Cornwall, a system of secondary triage. We have found that the number of calls that come to 111 we can downgrade to get people to come to minor injuries so they can be dealt with closer to home.”
Dr White said that people could help the system by “choosing their services well” and going to the right place for help.
He explained that he had encountered a man who had sought help after diving into a swimming pool and finding that he had water stuck in his ear.
“I advised him to jump up and down and the water came out of his ear.”
The governing body also discussed how the recruitment and retention of staff was affecting services in Cornwall.
Various members explained that it was proving difficult to attract people into health and care jobs and there was also an issue with people leaving the profession.
John Yarnold, fiscal management lay member, said: “We have increased demand for all services but we have less capacity.
“We have people leaving, retiring early because they have burnt out. We have now got gaps right across the system, particularly in homecare packages, we just don’t have the people available.
“It is going to be worse this month as we are in the school holidays and people haven’t taken holiday over the last 18 months, people need that break. We are going to see a reduction in performance levels unfortunately. I am very concerned going forward.”
GP member Dr Judy Duckworth said that there had been attempts to provide incentives for people to take up posts, including providing accommodation, but these had not worked.
But she said that people were more willing to work in hospitality or other jobs as the pay was better and there was less pressure.
She said: “There is no simple fix, it is a really difficult job. If you can sit on a checkout in Lidls and earn the same, that is a no brainer for some people.”
In a statement, police said: "Devon & Cornwall Police are one of a number of partner agencies who are currently assisting the NHS with the overall coordination of additional volunteer transportation considerations.
"These include private ambulance companies and the Volunteer Devon and Cornwall 4x4 cell, who have kindly offered to assist with patient transportation following patients being discharged from hospital.
"This is not Devon & Cornwall Police staff or fleet, but volunteers who are more regularly used during incidents of severe weather in the region.
"Devon & Cornwall Police are not currently required or considered for patient transportation".
A spokesperson for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Health and Care Partnership added: “The Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Local Resilience Forum has asked all partners to work together in response to the exceptional and sustained pressures on health and care services across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
"Multi-agency partners will continue to explore all options for the safe delivery of health and care services to our communities".