News Story for our News Day Papers!

Hampshire Ambulance – Response Times

The Hampshire Emergency Services have the same problem as many others, response times. With a high rate of calls coming from the Winchester area the time it takes for a service to reach the scene is often tested to the max, especially when it comes to Ambulances.

Chairman for the Hampshire Ambulance Service, Tony Barron said “We make sure that all of our Response Units are trained professionally and carry all of the necessary equipment. Response times are a constant reminder to us that every second really does count, and we try to reach the scene as quickly as possible.”

Most cases, Barron claims are to be reached within 8 to 19 minutes, depending on the class of how serious they are. Classes range from ‘Life Threatening’ to ‘Regular’ which is often given to cases of Binge Drinking. Barron also claimed that 30% of recent 999 calls have been due to drinking, focusing the attention on the teenagers of Winchester. Claire Severgnini, Chief Executive claimed – “The response times to more serious cases in Hampshire are often disrupted due to the party-goers out on the booze.”

We surveyed the public in Winchesters town centre to get their views on Response times, and the one recurring issue was that the town centre is one of the biggest problems for Ambulances. The winding crossroads located near the ‘O’Neils’ restaurant are often a problem due to traffic jams throughout the day.

The recent closure of Romsey Road’s bridge meant that a response time would suffer almost 5 extra minutes to reach neighbouring areas. Whilst the work could not be avoided most of the public said the Ambulance service should have been better prepared for such a closure.

So it seems as if a combination of common incidents within Winchester means that Ambulance services have to deal with a larger number of calls and have further distances to travel in some cases. Time will tell if they can counter this factor with new road routes or more Ambulances to cater for the publics needs, the Council may also consider creating plans to make access easier in the near future.