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A YEAR OF M.A.B. AMBULANCE SERVICE.

4th September 1923
Page 23
Page 23, 4th September 1923 — A YEAR OF M.A.B. AMBULANCE SERVICE.
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Brief Details of the Work Associated with London's Motor Ambulance Needs.

THE voluminous annual report, ot the Metropolitan Asylums Board for the year 1922-23, which has just been issued, contains certain . details of the working of the Board's ambulances and other matter relative to the ambulance service in London.

The mileage covered by the motor vehicles and the river craft in connection with the removal of patients serves as an. indication -of the Board's extensive sphere of activity, being, during the year under review, 699,549, as against 'S89,112 miles covered in 1921, 777,676 in • 1920, and 522,938 in 1919. In addition, 20,568 journeys were made covering . 196,038 miles in connection with the transport of passengers, mainly staff members, and a considerable tonnage of goods required at the various institutions.

• With regard to the equipment, administration and working of the land arnbulance service, the report states that steady progress was made during the year in keeping abreast of modern

. requirements. Bulk petrol storage plants with supply pumps have been installed at all the ambulance stations; additional telephone lines provided to all stations to reduce. risks of interruption of means of communication; increased numbers of ambulance nurses arranged for; and ambulances of a new pattern put into service in considerable

numbers. .

150iVehicles in M.A:B. Service. _ .

To deal promptly and adequately with the 150 vehicles in the service, the central motor repair and overhaul works have been rearranged, and their equipment Of .inachitie tools and other workShop appliances added to. A large net steel-framed painting shop has . been erected, and the works, as a whole, are now fitted to deal with the complete annual overhaul of vehicles, in addition to the customary repair work involved in breakdowns and accidents: = rn the early part of. 1923, the report states. there was considerable comment in the Pressand' elsewhere with regard to the ambulance arrangements in London, and that comment, it continues, showed no little misconception of the true facts.

. The Metropolitan Asylums Board has

six ambulance stations situated in different parts of London, and a large repair depot at Fulham. It has at these stations 107 motor ambulances and omnibuses, apart from a number of goods lorries and tractors. The primary function of the Board's ambulance service is the removal of cases of infectious disease in the Metropolis. The Board also removes a considerable proportion of the patients to its institutions for tuberculosis, sick and convalescent children and mentally Zeficients. It undertakes, with its mechanical road transport service, the carriage of goods from its central stores to its institutions.

In 1906 a departmental committee of three members was set up .by the Home Secretary to inquire as to the provision made for dealing "with cases al

acci dent and sudden illness occurring in streets and public places within the Metropolis," and, at that time, a good deal of emphasis was laid upon the desirability of keeping the infectious ambulance service and the street accident service distinct.

In 1909 the Metropolitan Ambulances k Act was passed, empowering the London County -Council to establish and maintain, or to contribute towards the• cost of or otherwise to aid in establishing or maintaining, an ambulance service for dealing with cases of accidents or illness (other than infectious diseases) within the county of London.

In November, 1913, the county council invited the 1VI.A.B. to prepare a scheme of co-operation with it and other metropolitan authorities for the establishment of a street accident ambulance service, and in the same month the Board prepared and submitted a Complete scheme for dealing with this matter. It was, however, not accepted, and the council proceeded itself, in 1915, to set up the existing street ambulance service. Meantime, the M.A.B.'s am.bulance service had, apart from its normal work, been largely utilized for the removal of non-infectious cases from private houses to hospitals, and it has continued to meet this need.

In 1922 the number of infectious cases removed by the M.A.B. transport vehicles to its institutions was 33,679, apart from 4,807 non-infectious cases and 13,281 other removals from private houses to hospital, infirmary or else where.

In the case of removals of private persons to hospitals or addresses other• than the M.A.B. inatitutions • the Board charges a fee for the use of the ambulance. Within the administrative county of Landon the fee is a fixed one of 10s..

per journey, with an additional 'Charge when a nurse is supplied.4,Journeys ex

tending outside the county are charged for at a mileage rate, and in this connection it is of interest to note that the

removal of patients has been satisfactorily undertaken to distances up to nearly 200 miles from London.

In this matter of charging for ambulance service, the Metropolitan Asylums Board differs from the Landon County Council, whose street ambulance service is free. It has not, so far, been thought right by Parliament that a free ambulance service should be plaated at the disposal of the citizens of London for removals of all kinds. There seems to be. tio reason, says the report, why the whole cost of such -a service should be thrown upon the rates.

Functions of M.A.B. and L.C.C.

The present position is, therefore, that the London County Council has provided a free ambulance service to deal with street accident eases, while the Metropolitan Asylums Board has a service which deals with infectious and other hospital removals to or from private houses or dwellings in London.

The Board's ambulance service meets demands which at times are very great, but complaints as to delay are few.

The functions of the two serviceeare very clearly defined, and while, of course, the Board never refuses an urgent call either within the county of London or from over the border, it does not encroach upon the street accident service, nor is there any occasion for the latter, as a rule, to enter the field . covered by the M.A.B. service.

The Board undertakes successfully the removal work of local authorities in London, and also of authorities outside Landon, on satisfactory terms, and has arrangements whereby its service* is


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