Ambulance chief: Brexit will not impact on 999 supplies
Plans have been put in place to ensure Brexit does not result in a shortage of emergency supplies for the ambulance service that covers Shropshire.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was using winter stocking plans to ensure it does not miss out on vital medication if Britain leaves the EU with no deal on October 31.
The service’s chief executive, Anthony Marsh, said plans had already been drawn up and he did not anticipate any problems coming to light.
He said: “We are working on winter stocking levels and I do not anticipate there being any problems regarding Brexit.
“We always ensure we have enough winter stock in and this grows through the year before returning to normal levels if not by now, around now.
“At normal stock levels we will be okay and we are planning our next year’s winter plan involving this.
“I do not anticipate any problems and will ensure we keep working on this ahead of Brexit.”
It comes as Craig Cooke, the service’s strategic operations director, said the winter plan for 2018/19 had worked well.
He said: “We planned it to the second and the trust performed very well indeed over the winter.
“It went well and to plan and now we are already planning for this winter.
“We will bring the winter plan forward in June and then present it to the board in September ahead of implementation.
“But this is really fine detail stuff. We have performed very well indeed and I am very pleased with how it all went.
Performance
“It is, as I said, very much about small improvements and fine details.”
Mr Marsh added: “Staff have all done very well to get us here in the plan and it says it all that we are already about to bring our winter plan for next winter forward.
“It is because we are well prepared that we have enjoyed this outcome.”
Mr Cooke added that a mild winter had assisted with the good performance.
He added: “The winter/festive period for the trust went very well and all National AQI’s were achieved.
“This stems from the significant work and support of the trust board, through to every member of staff to achieve this for our region and patients. It does need to be noted that this winter has been mild weather wise, there has been reduced cases of norovirus and flu this year. Due to this there was less impact of these on the Trust service provision and the health communities, so this needs to be kept in mind when planning winter 2019/20.”
