Bertie
Many thanks for connecting me with that document, it fills in a 13 year gap in my experience very well. I now understand where you are coming from.
If I can be so bold it seems to me that the conclusions implied by the texts are that clinical necessities trump all and that outcomes are King. Presumably that statement is based on individual patient outcome rather than overall outcomes throughout the Ambulance Service.
It seems to me that the apparent flexibility underwritten by the section on Major Incidents - to undertake tasks not directly related to the condition of a patient - provide the umbrella to cover you for the implications of the section on corporate manslaughter. Nothing I envisage would entail using the helicopter outside the safety-case developed for the 'Major Incident' scenario.
As I have indicated the system has matured to the extent that the clinicians (who back in 1987 didn't want to know and many fought us tooth and nail) are now 'enlightened' to the extent that anything that doesn't involve somebody who can benefit from their advanced skills is not worthy. I say think about the next call when you are in distant rural location and the loss of 'your ambulance' for 4 hours means that Uncle Jimmy dies because Mrs Smith's epistaxis couldn't be managed at home.
I have many times mulled over the question of statistics and I wonder if these days data is kept on:
1. Transport time to hospital.
2. Time taken to return a vehicle to its designated station.
3. No of minutes where no ambulance resource was available.
Maybe your more up-to-date knowledge can help?
G.
Last edited by Geoffersincornwall; 1st Jan 2014 at 13:04.
Reason: Removed some irrelevant stuff