A&E demands strength
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DOCTORS, PARAMEDICS, AND AMBULANCE PEOPLE from every corner jostled through a packed Ambex '98 exhibition in Harrogate, mirroring a massive multi-million pound industry dedicated to saving almost as many jobs as lives, Front-line A&E ambulances were most prominent and fleet engineers clearly as sharp as their road haulage counterparts insist on better performance, versatility and reliability plus reduced whole-life costs. Most prefer to lease or contract hire rather than use health trust cash. And more services are indulging in vehicles with sturdier coach-built bodies.
The Chevy-based Florida cocktail from Wheeled Coach of Orlando is probably the most exotic; Northumberland will soon have 60 on the road and Surrey eight but S MacNeillie of Walsall will soon be fitting imported WC bodies on to Mercedes Sprinter 412D chassis. To counter the invasion, home built "strongbox" bodies are offered by market leader UVG but now Marshall and Papworth have introduced new ambulance body designs, too. More raise/lower rear air suspensions are being fitted to improve ride and stability and to ovoid attendants having to lift heavy stretcher cases inside. Manufacturers such as LDV and Mercedes-Benz have factory-fit suspensions while others use kits from converters such as Drinkwater Chassis Engineering. Bryan Jarvis reports.
• Ford showed a UVG-bodied Transit with County's new low ground clearance 4x4 conversion, a system aimed at emergency services wanting a roadgoing vehicle with a modest offroad capability. The conversion adds £11,759 (retail) and is available on 150 SWB,190 LWB van, chassis-cab and van floor models. As a part-time system, says County's sales manager Bill Waddell, it avoids the increased drag and higher fuel consumption associated with a constant all-wheel drive. Ford's original gearbox rear casing is replaced with one that accepts the Borg Warner two-speed transfer box and a P1-0. An electrically engaged
4'4 dog clutch is fitted in the front axle. Chassis changes include a new tubular crossmem
ber supporting the transmission plus a redesigned front sub-frame and independent suspension arrangement of MacPherson struts, lower wishbones, track and tie rods. Ground clearance is increased by 40mm compared to 80mm on the heavier offhighway 4x4.
• Surrey has invested faith and £480,000 in eight 4.2t GVW Chevrolet-based A&E ambulances with fully equipped Wheeled Coach bodywork. Surrey may well convert its whole fleet of 45 to this type of vehicle, some 4x4s. The Chevys are powered by 250hp petrol weeeights with four-speed auto gearboxes and the aluminium-framed and panelled bodies are certified crash and crush-proof. These exhibits join the Chevys in Orlando, Florida but versions made for Mercedes 412Ds will be shipped from Wichita, Kansas to Walsall to be mounted by S MacNeillie & Sons. The first one fitted was also shown in last Saturday's BBC series Casualty.
• The first right-hand drive Fiat Scudo Combi made it to Ambex '98; it's one of a pair for Ymddiriedolaeth GIG Gwasanaethau Ambiwlons Cymru or, as everyone more commonly knows it, the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust. With its 1.9-litre turbo catequipped diesel, six seats, 460kg payload and a sizeable 1,93m3 load space, it's a useful utility priced at just £13,130.
• Papworth VBB launched a coachbuilt Amigo Amigo conversion combines a stylish, one ambulance body that suits either A&E ambupiece GRP outer moulding with a Crornweld lance, patient transfer or passenger transport stainless-steel triangulated frame and sub uses. The first, on an Iveco Daily 40.12, is a frame. An aerodynamic collar links body and prototype but Papworth has built a similar cab and rear door access is via an unusual conversion on a Renault Master and a bus electric-powered step-cum-ramp. Side entry is version on a VW chassis. The sleek-looking through the single sliding door.
• With fewer military ambulance orders around, Marshall hopes its new A&E body system, which looks sleek and enormously strong, will win over civvy markets. One of the first is based on an Iveco Daily 40.12 with CDE air suspension and Telma retarder but others have been designed for LDV and Mercedes chassis-cabs. The body's stainless steel triple roll cage frame is overlaid with a fourelement aluminium skinned panel and there's a curvy cab roof and side panels between it and the cab. Marshall gives it a 10-year body structure warranty. User expertise has come from the Nottingham service and now Marshall is building one for Beds & Herts which has 10 Bernard Collet-bodied ambulances in its fleet.
• A Mercedes Vito looked a good basis for Clara, Co Offaly-based Wilker's latest Lunar front line ambulance. With roll-cages front and rear, shapely GRP bodywork and upswept roof section the fully equipped A&E vehicle looks well suited to its "swoop 'n scoop" paramedic follow-up role for city-centre or precinct duties. Inside there's forced air ventilation and strip lighting while the top section has integral beacons, side storage boxes and a central space for spinal boards. The Vito can have factory-fit rear air suspension. • This Premia-bodied Mercedes 312D Sprinter for the Scottish Ambulance Service has a number of new features including UVG's new electrically operated combined steps and fold-out ramp and a new electrical circuit multiplexing system. The rear steps can be powered out and back but there's a manual operation in the event of a power failure. It also has a new rear-of-chassis lowering system from Drum Engineering that uses an electrohydraulic ram and cantilever system over the rear springs to reduce floor height. Premia bodies also have stainless steel framework with GRP cladding, are roll and tilt tested to 39 and carry a sevenyear anti-rust warranty.
• Dewsbury-based Carnation Designs' new CD2000 auxiliary eiectrics management system replaces complicated looms usually found on emergency services vehicles. It centres on a re-programmable microchip which with banks of multifunctional switches can cater for entire situations, turning on or off all necessary functions. "Arrive At Scene" for example allows the driver to remove the keys leaving the engine running, the vehicle disabled and only the flashing beacons, "blues", saloon and hazard lights on. The CD2000 control panel mounts behind the passenger seat and a system costs just under £1,000.
IN BRIEF
• Glide-Rite expects Mercedes approval for its Sprinter rear air suspension by next month and from Fiat some time later. It also has a new enclosed step cassette that can run from the air suspension or via an electric linear motor.
* Hampshire ambulance service's latest UVG Premiabodied LDV Convoy has been specified with a Telma C3764 retarder.
c•., Par-Fit of Cloghran, Co Dublin, is offering a new plug-type side sliding door in cassette form. It comes complete with sensor switches to prevent it from trapping a passenger. The unit is marketed in the UK by Carnation Designs of Dewsbury.