Happy New Year
I guess I am trying to push the discussion towards that corner of the ongoing debate about public service helicopters that involves the contribution the AA can make to the overall effectiveness of our public services. I will try to keep the debate within the confines of the NHS although there are times when it is tempting to want to cross the boundary into the territory currently 'owned' by others.
As long as the focus is on the condition of the patient who is the subject of the current callout there will never be much, if any, consideration for the plight of the next patient to dial 999.
Triage is fashionable these days but I am guessing that the road ambulances still have to deal with some pretty minor stuff and that in rural areas this can take a vehicle and highly trained crew out of service for some considerable time even though the patient'c condition is far from life threatening.
Now if we rejigged our thinking around making the whole organisation more effective we could use the AA as a general purpose tool (within reason of course) to remove (at high speed) such minor cases that have such a deleterious effect on the response times. (not as a matter of course but when the overall pattern of resource availability looks like it's going down the Swanney - see example in my booklet). Deal as quickly as possible with the calls you have and get them out of the system expeditiously. That way you have the best chance of being there when you are really needed.
We desperately need to think Team UK rather than just Team NHS.
G.
