Ambulance cover plans could be a "disaster"

Saturday 21 December 2019

Alderney's sacked Chief Ambulance Officer has warned that the States' "hastily trained" team of ambulance volunteers is "a disaster waiting to happen" for the island.

Since the nine strong crew went on strike in support of leader Mel Walden, on 5 December, Guernsey's St John Ambulance paramedics have been providing cover.

That ended on 21 December so that Guernsey duties can be fulfilled.

Mel Walden had convened a meeting with States Members on Friday to unveil a plan which would see the original ambulance crew go immediately back to work. 

Pictured: Mel Walden previously speaking to Alderney States Members. 

Mrs Walden was summarily dismissed by the board of Alderney Ambulance after an independent review concluded that the current service was unsafe and unsustainable.

It highlighted a list of failings including non functioning batteries on defibrillators and alleged that various pieces of equipment were out of date and unserviced.

It criticised the lack of medical supervision by a medical director and found clinical assessments to be inadequate. The nine strong crew walked out in support of Mrs Walden and after initially trying to persuade the crew to return, with Mrs Walden suspended, the States announced that a new model would be developed.

The first thing Mrs Walden wanted to say was that the original service was not, and had never been "unsafe".

She rebutted the report, written by paramedic Richard Webber, and presented to the crew and States Members on December 2.

She said back up life saving equipment in working order was always available – for example mobile defibrillators were carried in responders' cars - and at no point were lives at risk. She alleged that Mr Webber had failed to acknowledge the delivery of replacement parts during his visit, did not take into account those that were delayed in Guernsey and nor did he ask to see evidence of stock control, records of parts ordered, or training. Neither did it take into account the size of the island, he said, where the short journey to hospital cut short communication with the patient.

The battery that failed on the smaller mobile AED device had been checked, but on the day of inspection it failed.

"I should have ordered two batteries a couple of week's ago; that's a lesson learned," she said.

"People need to remember every voluntary service we have inspections and you have time to comply. No one is going to be perfect there are always going to be issues."

Pictured: Alderney Ambulance Service is now being run by trained volunteers on an interim basis. 

Seven States members attended the informal meeting on Friday, held in a function room at the Georgian pub.

Mrs Walden said the States' solution was "not robust or sustainable in the medium or long term", tied up the Fire Service and utilised hastily trained volunteers with no major incident training or experience. It was "a disaster waiting to happen", she warned.

"The States would be ill advised to throw away 128 years of collective experience.  This would be a huge loss and an unnecessary risk to the community.  This is a crew that is very caring and compassionate and very well trained, and one which is ready to go back the work with a simple phone call."

She outlined a "life saving plan" which if implemented would harness the skills a highly trained and experienced crew.

Mrs Walden said that hospital doctor Dr Aaron Pennell was ready to be temporarily reinstated as Medical Director; a senior paramedic and lecturer was ready to be seconded to Alderney for a four month period to ensure correct policies were adhered to, and clinical governance would be outsourced to Emergency Doctors Medical Service, which Dr Pennell is part of. A new medical director, emergency specialist Dr Christopher Press was ready to assume the role of Medical Director in the New Year.

The plan, if implemented, would also require the two remaining directors on the Ambulance Board to stand down and the appointment of three new interim directors and the formation of a States sub committee to review the situation after six months.

"This solution, put forward to the States of Alderney, is very comprehensive and deepens the level of clinical governance as Guernsey brings in greater regulation for voluntary services, said Mrs Walden.

"We think it's extremely positive."

States Members, many of whom say they have been kept "out of the loop" on ambulance service discussions and developments, including the actual commissioning of the review,  asked Mrs Walden to produce some financing figures over the weekend.

Ambulance Liaison for the States of Alderney, States member Chris Harris, said they hoped to convene a special meeting on the proposal in a formal States setting before Christmas.

"We needed to hear both sides of the argument, and it would have been remiss not to come," he said.

"We've agreed to consider the proposal and the details given to us and have a special Policy and Finance meeting as soon as we can to move forward."