Closure of Market Rasen Ambulance Station
By Guy Grainger - Gainsborough
Originally published by East Midlands Liberal Democrats
The news that Market Rasen Ambulance Station is to be closed and staff transferred to Gainsborough is very bad for the residents of the LN7 and LN8 postcode areas.
Market Rasen Ambulance Station
Emergency ambulance provision throughout much of rural Lincolnshire is a scandal possibly as bad as the situation identified at the Mid Staffs NHS Trust five years ago.
The system operated by EMAS has resulted in very poor ambulance response times - which can only mean that survival rates are adversely affected - in short people are dying as a direct result of the way in which EMAS is run.
Central Government needs to get a grip on this situation immediately.
There should be a full investigation by the Care Quality Commission into EMAS with particular reference to the clinical outcome of the emergency responses throughout region.
Areas like LN7 and LN8 around Market Rasen, where ambulance response times are poor, should be compared to those locations which enjoy proper ambulance coverage.
This might reveal just how many deaths are attributable to poor response times.
In the meantime, responsibility for managing ambulance resources within Lincolnshire should be taken away from EMAS.
Perhaps as an emergency measure Lincolnshire Fire Service (LFS) could take over organisational responsibility for Lincolnshire ambulances - the key is have the ambulances in the right places to respond quickly throughout the whole county and LFS has decades of experience in the strategic planning where to site emergency response vehicles.
It could be that in time this might lead to an integrated Fire and Ambulance service for Lincolnshire.