The Labour Party has generally been in favour of amalgamating Fire &
Ambulance Services, but appear to be warey of pushing the FBU to a strike
over it.
There is a 1% per annum increase in the numbers of housebound elderly, and
this will increase until about 2020 when it will then begin to fall. This
is plaving increasing pressures on the Patient Transport Services and the
Government would like to privatise them to get rid of an uncontrollable
expediture. However, current public opinion on the decline of the N.H.S.
precludes them from doing that at the moment. If you were to be left with
just the Emergency Ambulance Service there is a logic to combining both
ambulance & fire stations. Not only would there be a County Ambulance
Headquarters to sell off for the real estate but there would be all the
ambulance stations, as the vehicles are rarely in the station and many fire
stations have been built with Government funding to provide extra bays
(covertly to provide a home for Green Goddesses in time of strike). With
computerised pay-rolls one Finance department could easily deal with the
extra workload and combining training facilities would be beneficial and
cost effective too. Also only one stores department and vehicle workshops.
The Control room would double in size and would still have separate
function desks but inter-service liaison would improve. Ambulance crews
would still need their own officers but at the toip there would only be a
need for one boss, and logically he would have to be a fire-fighter by
training. Small wonder the Ambulance Chief Executives are currently
running in their wheels like hamsters on speed. They just have to show dear
Tony how indispensable they are.
The huge saving in salaries of support workers and the income from sale of
real estate would have a couple of drawbacks however. One would be that
Paramedics would expect the same income as fire-fighters, and same pension
rights too, particularly if they are never on station and good old fireman
Sam is getting his forty winks.
My evidence for this? Nothing published but quite a few confidential
conversations with people in the know. Look at the logic and tell me Labour
haven't though it through.
Vic Calland
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