8,000 people sign petition to keep Swanage ambulance car
Dorset Council pledges to look at any changes to Swanage ambulance car proposed by Dorset CCG
Dorset Council has promised an in-depth look at any proposals for changes to the ambulance car service in the Swanage area.
The pledge comes after a series of letters to this week’s Cabinet meeting from Purbeck residents asking for support.
Adult social care brief holder Cllr Laura Miller has agreed to set up a task and finish group to look at the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group proposals – when it decides to go public with what it intends to do.
The DCCG has said the paramedic service will continue as it now is until any decision was made.
Dorset Council chief executive Matt Prosser said the authority is not the decision maker on the issue and could only ensure that the consultation process was followed and to make its own views known.
Petition gains 8,000 signatures
More than 8,000 people have signed a petition for the retention of the service since it was suggested it might be withdrawn.
Many of those who oppose any changes point out the difficulty of getting to the accident and emergency unit in Bournemouth, a 30-mile trip, often on congested roads, especially in the summer.
The campaign has heard of many examples where the paramedic car gave a swift response to those in difficulties, often resulting in immediately saving a life, or avoiding a long ambulance trip to accident and emergency for further treatment.
Opponents of any change say the car paramedic attends over 400 risk to life emergencies just in Swanage each year with over 1,800 call-outs in the same period.
Some of the examples were before this week’s Cabinet meeting, including cases of a child with epilepsy, another with a rare medical condition, a heart attack victim and others.
In a letter to the Cabinet Swanage Town Council backed the calls for a task and finish group to be set up, adding: “There is also some doubt about whether DCCG understands an ‘engagement’ to be what a local authority would normally consider a proper consultation.”
Cllr Miller said she fully understood the strength of feeling in the Swanage area.
She promised a task and finish group would look in detail at the proposals when they became available.
“There is to be a consultation, we will respond, we will set up a task and finish group,” she said… “We will ensure these incredibly moving stories are heard. We hear you. We will set up that group, we will respond to the CCG.”