500 signatures reached
To: Richard Drax MP
Richard Drax MP: Please Help us Save Our Paramedic Car!
Richard Drax MP: Help Save Swanage + Purbeck Paramedic Car
Please urgently support your constituents by working with the Town Council to maximise our chances of saving the Swanage based 24/7 Paramedic Car. This is a matter of life and death for over 400 residents and visitors each year.
Our whole community has come together to stand up for our service:
- Over 7,000 people have signed the petition to Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group to save Swanage Ambulance Car
- Hundreds of Swanage and Isle of Purbeck residents are displaying banners, garden stakes or posters
- Shops and community venues across Isle of Purbeck Towns and Villages are displaying banners, stakes, posters or leaflets
- Schools and Churches in our community are supporting our Car
As our MP we are asking you to support us to retain this life saving service.
Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group say that ‘no decision has been made’ on the future of the Swanage and Purbeck Paramedic Car, and that a decision will not be made until ‘the community has been engaged with’.
However, it a surprise that there is any question of the Paramedic Car being withdrawn. The Clinical Commissioning Group made a minuted commitment to Dorset Council in October 2018 that, given the planned loss of A&E and Maternity from Poole, Swanage based ambulance services would be fully maintained.
In February this year, Purbeck GP’s were asked whether, if the Clinical Commissioning Group removed their funding from the Car, the GP’s could set up a new service to support GP home visits from 1st April. The Car would be withdrawn and the emergency response function would be lost.
Swanage Town Council voted unanimously on 15th March to seek an urgent meeting with the Ambulance Trust and Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group to discuss the costs of maintaining the service, and the funding available.
Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group responded, on behalf of themselves and the Ambulance Trust, to offer an ‘engagement event’ with ‘options’, and asked the Town Council to suggest some dates to meet, after the elections.
The Town Council replied to clarify that they were seeking a meeting to discuss the funding of the service, separate from any public engagement event, asked for confirmation that retention of the service would be one of the ‘options’ on offer, and suggested some dates in May for the meeting.
To date, there has been no response from Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group. Time is running down in terms of the meeting dates offered, but it is not clear that the meeting will address the question of funding, nor that retention of the 24/7 Swanage based Paramedic Car is an option on offer.
I am asking that, as my MP, you urgently contact Tim Goodson, the Chief Executive of Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, and William Warrender, the Chief Executive of the South West Ambulance Services Trust, to clarify that:
- retention of the 24/7 Swanage based Paramedic Car remains an option
- at the meeting, a breakdown of the costs of the service will be provided, and there will be an opportunity to fully discuss all possible funding sources
- Purbeck GP Leads have previously offered funding to support retention of the Paramedic Car, so will also be welcome to attend the meeting
Thank you.
Please urgently support your constituents by working with the Town Council to maximise our chances of saving the Swanage based 24/7 Paramedic Car. This is a matter of life and death for over 400 residents and visitors each year.
Our whole community has come together to stand up for our service:
- Over 7,000 people have signed the petition to Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group to save Swanage Ambulance Car
- Hundreds of Swanage and Isle of Purbeck residents are displaying banners, garden stakes or posters
- Shops and community venues across Isle of Purbeck Towns and Villages are displaying banners, stakes, posters or leaflets
- Schools and Churches in our community are supporting our Car
As our MP we are asking you to support us to retain this life saving service.
Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group say that ‘no decision has been made’ on the future of the Swanage and Purbeck Paramedic Car, and that a decision will not be made until ‘the community has been engaged with’.
However, it a surprise that there is any question of the Paramedic Car being withdrawn. The Clinical Commissioning Group made a minuted commitment to Dorset Council in October 2018 that, given the planned loss of A&E and Maternity from Poole, Swanage based ambulance services would be fully maintained.
In February this year, Purbeck GP’s were asked whether, if the Clinical Commissioning Group removed their funding from the Car, the GP’s could set up a new service to support GP home visits from 1st April. The Car would be withdrawn and the emergency response function would be lost.
Swanage Town Council voted unanimously on 15th March to seek an urgent meeting with the Ambulance Trust and Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group to discuss the costs of maintaining the service, and the funding available.
Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group responded, on behalf of themselves and the Ambulance Trust, to offer an ‘engagement event’ with ‘options’, and asked the Town Council to suggest some dates to meet, after the elections.
The Town Council replied to clarify that they were seeking a meeting to discuss the funding of the service, separate from any public engagement event, asked for confirmation that retention of the service would be one of the ‘options’ on offer, and suggested some dates in May for the meeting.
To date, there has been no response from Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group. Time is running down in terms of the meeting dates offered, but it is not clear that the meeting will address the question of funding, nor that retention of the 24/7 Swanage based Paramedic Car is an option on offer.
I am asking that, as my MP, you urgently contact Tim Goodson, the Chief Executive of Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, and William Warrender, the Chief Executive of the South West Ambulance Services Trust, to clarify that:
- retention of the 24/7 Swanage based Paramedic Car remains an option
- at the meeting, a breakdown of the costs of the service will be provided, and there will be an opportunity to fully discuss all possible funding sources
- Purbeck GP Leads have previously offered funding to support retention of the Paramedic Car, so will also be welcome to attend the meeting
Thank you.
Why is this important?
Swanage is at the end of the Isle of Purbeck peninsula and is a popular holiday destination. With the planned loss of A&E and Maternity from Poole, Swanage will be approaching 30 miles from Bournemouth or Dorset County, with much of the journey on busy single track roads. A freedom of information act response from the Ambulance Trust shows that in 2019 there were 996 call outs of a paramedic car to BH19 postcodes - that's just Swanage, Langton, Worth + Studland. Over half of these call outs were category 1-3 emergencies, the most serious, and there were more than 400 call outs each year where there was risk to life.
Data for call outs to BH20 postcodes in 2019 - Corfe, Wareham and wider Purbeck - has been requested, but not yet received.
Data for call outs to BH20 postcodes in 2019 - Corfe, Wareham and wider Purbeck - has been requested, but not yet received.
