2nd august 2007

Interesting link to the Worcestershire page. Even more interesting to read the comments. And *especially* interesting to read the comments of "Ambo999", who clearly would appear to be a manager from WMASNHST but hasn't the guts to identify themselves. (Actually my money would be on one of the PR staff...)

They keep banging on about how one central facility (with backup from their favoured centres in Leamington and Stafford) would be during a major incident or a natural disaster. Fair enough. Yet the pinching of vehicles to cover what I assume are urgent (rather than emergency) calls in the West Mids conurbation recently suggests they can't actually cope with a slight increase in everyday calls - let alone the influx that would occur in a large scale emergency.

I wonder how many other ambulance services who pass calls to West Mids (ex mobile numbers, or NHS Direct etc) get their calls answered within seconds? I doubt many metropolitan controls answer their calls that quickly - they're overrun, just like most large control rooms. Presumably staff sickness levels in Millenium Point are at low levels then?

I bet they're not!

Typical ambulance service management mentality - pat the staff on the head with some brief and patronising thanks and then proceed to crap on them with some poorly supported 'facts' and 'suppositions'. As the Here-Worcs staff just seem to have found out.

THE STAFF WHO HAVE PLENTY TO SAY ABOUT THE POOR WAY IN WHICH THEY ARE TREATED BY ANTHONY MARSH AND HIS SENIOR MANAGERS SHOULD NOW INSTRUCT THEIR TRADE UNIONS TO PREPARE A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE CHAIRMAN AND THE TRUST BOARD OF WEST MIDLANDS AMBULANCE SERVICE.
NO DEAL JUST A SIMPLE VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN THE TRUST AND ITS BOARD.

SAVE OUR SERVICE
S O S.
This is a statement from the saveourservice campaign date 6th August 2007.
We wish to thank the sixteen thousand plus residents of Shropshire and also the five serving members of Parliament with also both the Shropshire County Councillors and the Shrewsbury and Atcham Councillors for the one hundred percent support in condemning the West Midlands Ambulance Service proposal to close the Shropshire 999 control room here in Shrewsbury. This control room serves the whole of Shropshire responding to 999 calls helping to save lives daily with excellent local knowledge which is invaluable something that can not be replaced from a huge control room either in Stafford or Brierley Hill in the West Midlands. Throughout our campaign it has been our intention to help the residents of Shropshire to understand what it will mean to loose this valuable service and also loose the last little control we have to the West Midlands. During the period we have been campaigning the control room at Bransford in Worcestershire has been informed it also is down for closure. This would mean that an estimated one million residents will loose their own 999 response call centres to the West Midlands Service, one that appears hell bent in creating a central corridor down the centre of the country, that being Stafford control, Brierley Hill control, and also Royal Leamington Spa i.e. Coventry. This is we feel a result of a government scheme to centralize the essential services that being Police Fire and Ambulance Services. The Ambulance Control room in Shropshire has a wealth of local knowledge and more Important than that is its Identity with the local residents of Shropshire and now Hereford and Worcestershire. Make no bones about this we must retain our own local identities to protect loved ones by giving them the best local service even if that means the existing stations are updated with the latest technology. During this campaign the Chief Executive and his senior members of staff have consistently mislead the public by their responses to the Shropshire Star and also Radio Shropshire. People within the service now believe they are not telling the truth in statements but trying to sideline any comments that are given to the press. This consultation is a complete sham. It should be stopped and an Independent Inquiry set up to look at the methods employed by Management and also to find out the how and when this document was drawn up and how many of the voting executive were involved. How can this be deemed an Independent Consultation when the driving force behind these closures include Anthony Marsh the Chief Executive, and his management team. A committee of approx fifteen people will vote on whether to close Shrewsbury and Bransford with seven or eight of these people working along side the Chief Executive. The facts that have so far come out highlight problems within the West Midlands. Call waiting, a call answering message that is triggered when there are not enough operators to answer the phones. This message states welcome to the West Mids Ambulance Service your call is in a queue and will be answered as soon as an operator becomes available something they denied then later said it had been removed. This happened at Millennium Point Control Brierley Hill and not Shropshire’s or Herefords control centres. Fact. Ambulances are being taken out of area to carry none emergency patients to hospitals in the West Midlands. Ambulances that were needed in Shropshire a fact that Murray McGregor missed out. He stated that they were on Emergency calls, this is not true and Mr McGregor is aware of this fact. I could go on stating problems that have been brought to the attention of the Executive and all reports have been denied by them even though they were aware they were true. There is a great feeling now that this management is not carrying out its duties in a fair and honest manner and that this consultation is a sham which should be stopped and an Independent Committee be appointed to look at this whole affair.
Regarding the suspension of the three members of staff for breaching the data protection act, these people have done nothing other than bring to the publics attention in total frustration of not being listened to by management. All sensitive information like patient’s names and addresses, was cut out of the document before they were put in the public domain, no breach was made by these members of staff. Senior management are aware of this, having had a copy of this document faxed to them by Radio Shropshire. Anthony Marsh should resign, for the way he and his team have conducted themselves. In the widely used saying these days, “not fit for future purpose”
Please e-mail your support to saveourservice@aol.co.uk or e-mail consultation@wmas.nhs.uk
We need your support . Roy.. on behalf of the save our service campaign.

http://www.shropshirestar.co.uk/2007/08/bosses-suspend-new-999-worker/

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1584520.mostcommented.ambulance_staff
http://www.saveourambulancecontrol.blog.co.uk/

SAVE OUR SERVICE
S O S.
This is a statement from the saveourservice campaign date 6th August 2007.
We wish to thank the sixteen thousand plus residents of Shropshire and also the five serving members of Parliament with also both the Shropshire County Councillors and the Shrewsbury and Atcham Councillors for the one hundred percent support in condemning the West Midlands Ambulance Service proposal to close the Shropshire 999 control room here in Shrewsbury. This control room serves the whole of Shropshire responding to 999 calls helping to save lives daily with excellent local knowledge which is invaluable something that can not be replaced from a huge control room either in Stafford or Brierley Hill in the West Midlands. Throughout our campaign it has been our intention to help the residents of Shropshire to understand what it will mean to loose this valuable service and also loose the last little control we have to the West Midlands. During the period we have been campaigning the control room at Bransford in Worcestershire has been informed it also is down for closure. This would mean that an estimated one million residents will loose their own 999 response call centres to the West Midlands Service, one that appears hell bent in creating a central corridor down the centre of the country, that being Stafford control, Brierley Hill control, and also Royal Leamington Spa i.e. Coventry. This is we feel a result of a government scheme to centralize the essential services that being Police Fire and Ambulance Services. The Ambulance Control room in Shropshire has a wealth of local knowledge and more Important than that is its Identity with the local residents of Shropshire and now Hereford and Worcestershire. Make no bones about this we must retain our own local identities to protect loved ones by giving them the best local service even if that means the existing stations are updated with the latest technology. During this campaign the Chief Executive and his senior members of staff have consistently mislead the public by their responses to the Shropshire Star and also Radio Shropshire. People within the service now believe they are not telling the truth in statements but trying to sideline any comments that are given to the press. This consultation is a complete sham. It should be stopped and an Independent Inquiry set up to look at the methods employed by Management and also to find out the how and when this document was drawn up and how many of the voting executive were involved. How can this be deemed an Independent Consultation when the driving force behind these closures include Anthony Marsh the Chief Executive, and his management team. A committee of approx fifteen people will vote on whether to close Shrewsbury and Bransford with seven or eight of these people working along side the Chief Executive. The facts that have so far come out highlight problems within the West Midlands. Call waiting, a call answering message that is triggered when there are not enough operators to answer the phones. This message states welcome to the West Mids Ambulance Service your call is in a queue and will be answered as soon as an operator becomes available something they denied then later said it had been removed. This happened at Millennium Point Control Brierley Hill and not Shropshire’s or Herefords control centres. Fact. Ambulances are being taken out of area to carry none emergency patients to hospitals in the West Midlands. Ambulances that were needed in Shropshire a fact that Murray McGregor missed out. He stated that they were on Emergency calls, this is not true and Mr McGregor is aware of this fact. I could go on stating problems that have been brought to the attention of the Executive and all reports have been denied by them even though they were aware they were true. There is a great feeling now that this management is not carrying out its duties in a fair and honest manner and that this consultation is a sham which should be stopped and an Independent Committee be appointed to look at this whole affair.
Regarding the suspension of the three members of staff for breaching the data protection act, these people have done nothing other than bring to the publics attention in total frustration of not being listened to by management. All sensitive information like patient’s names and addresses, was cut out of the document before they were put in the public domain, no breach was made by these members of staff. Senior management are aware of this, having had a copy of this document faxed to them by Radio Shropshire. Anthony Marsh should resign, for the way he and his team have conducted themselves. In the widely used saying these days, “not fit for future purpose”
Please e-mail your support to saveourservice@aol.co.uk or e-mail consultation@wmas.nhs.uk
We need your support . Roy.. on behalf of the save our service campaign.

http://www.shropshirestar.co.uk/2007/08/bosses-suspend-new-999-worker/

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1584520.mostcommented.ambulance_staff
http://www.saveourambulancecontrol.blog.co.uk/

Subject: WMAS Trust Board unfit for purpose

WMAS Trust Board continually tries to convince us that ‘under the
proposals’ a far better level of service will be achieved. They dismiss
the threatened centres as ‘unfit for purpose’ whilst avoiding the
shortcomings of the centres not under threat. They try to mislead us
into believing all is well at Brierly Hill. They habitually fail to
compare like with like, ‘apples with apples’; repeatedly try to mislead
the public that, what Brierly Hill aspires to be already exists and
threatened centres are beyond redemption.

WMAS Trust Board has no interest in achieving best practise, only in
meeting targets by cutting corners. Mr Macgregor’s mantra of ‘calls
answered within 5 seconds’ has no substance, what possible use can that
be if you cannot deliver the goods? What benefit is there in achieving
call connect times if you cannot get the patient the Ambulance he/she so
badly needs?
Quite obviously the Board intend to apply the Law of Diminishing
Returns, where every effort is put into securing 80% of the available
market, whilst the remaining 20% is ignored. Whilst this is acceptable
business practise, it hardly constitutes best patient care. All too
clearly we can see where the 20% will be found, in the rural counties of
Hereford and Worcester and Shropshire.
Better business practise would be ‘Unique Selling Point’: serve the
community in the community you serve.

Mr Macgregor on behalf of the Board glibly tells us that the loss of
local knowledge will not be an issue, that technology will conquer all.
Technology is only as good as the information it’s given. People can be
confused when stressed, can be strangers to a place; when calling for
help they may not be able to give the information, the postcode that
satellite navigation needs. They are more likely to resort to what they
know or can see; I’m behind the chip shop in the High Street, I can see
a statute of a bloke holding a bike. That’s where local knowledge pays
off, and in smaller, intimate surrounding, that’s where knowledge can be
shared.
Staff at every centre possess this knowledge, creating high capacity
centres by simply increasing seats and introducing new staff, whether
they be re-located or raw recruits, will result not only in loss of
local knowledge in the rural counties, but will significantly dilute the
pool of local knowledge in the urban areas. This is simple common sense.

Left unchecked this folly could cost the taxpayer millions, firstly in
the closure of local centres and relocation of staff, then, when the
plan goes spectacularly wrong, in the re-instatement of those same
centres. No doubt Mr Macgregor will put his own particular brand of spin
on this development and tell us how lucky we are to be witnessing such
progress. As a mere taxpayer I’d rather give that experience a miss.
How many times have we seen the same happen? Large organisations
centralise for economy and efficiency, only to backtrack and provide
local, point of use facilities.

What is needed is investment in all existing centres, each one capable
of operating networked or autonomously as needs and conditions dictate,
that the WMAS Trust Board fails to recognise this is unprofessional and
inexcusable.

Mr Macgregor’s comments cannot stand up to scrutiny; the Trust Board is
incapable of delivering any information other than that which satisfies
their own dubious requirements. They are alarmed at the thought that the
public may learn the truth behind the deception, and react with
unreasonable actions when the truth is told. They panic. Only the weak,
the unsure, the incapable panic.

In conclusion, I question whether the WMAS Trust Board is fit for
purpose. I have no confidence in the ability of the Board, their methods
and motives are, at the very least suspect, at worst, immoral.

If the WMAS Trust Board cannot or will not provide sensible, workable
proposals then the task must immediately be given to those who can.

R. N. Prosser
--
Bob Prosser

regarding the data protection act and the fact that the managers at WMAS know the details of any addresses or names had been cut off........sorry did you say that they knew because they had a copy faxed from radio shropshire to them selves !!!!!!!! blimey DO THEY REALISE THEY HAVE COUNTER BREACHED THE ACT THEMSELVES !!!!!! BY HAVING THE DOCUMENT FAXED TO THEMSELVES !!! OOOOOPPPSSSS

Having been involved as a resident living in Shropshire and not a member of staff from day one,I have been amazed at how Anthony Marsh and his Senior members of staff have conducted themselves with what can only be described as lies,mis- representation incompetence and a very cynical method in which they have avoided to tell the truth over claims put to them of which there are many. The ability to try to turn all the problems back at staff who have brought this to the media attention. I also have been able to catch these people out with answers to questions that have been replied to, which are a long way from being truthful and well balanced.
I as a resident in Shropshire have lost all faith in the ability of Anthony Marsh and his senior members who also serve on the consultation committee to do the jobs. This consultation is a sham which has already been approved by the very same people that first came up with these ideas of shutting the two EOCs namely Shrewsbury and Bransford leaving over one million people without there own control room. The voting process will be rubber stamped by the very same people who came up with the idea .They constantly talk of bigger and better control rooms they are not talking of what happens if a major incident knocks out one or two of these centres.
A public inquiry should be held into the whole sorry mess and Anthony Marsh should be removed, taking his other members of his team that came with him to carry out this outrage in Shropshire Hereford and Worcestershire.