Doctor loses patience over ambulance response times
When Strachur doctor Robbie Coull moved to the area he presumed that the ambulance service would be much the same as he was used to in the Highlands. How wrong he was.
In April last year Dr Coull took up the role of principal doctor in the Strachur Medical Practice, having uprooted his wife and two young children from their home in Inverness. His previous practice was based in Lochinver, a small village not unlike Strachur.
It became obvious, almost immediately, that the ambulance service was much poorer than anywhere else that Dr Coull has worked, and he has worked all over the country.
However, it was after one of the most frightening scenarios imaginable that Dr Coull decided to investigate further.
In January he was dealing with a patient who had suffered a suspected heart attack.
He takes up the story: “I rang for an ambulance and requested a ‘Category One’ response to uplift the patient from the Medical Practice for admission to Inverclyde.
“This means that the ambulance should have been here within the hour. As I have a Diploma in Immediate Care I am fully trained and qualified to administer oxygen and I had enough supply to last an hour or so.
“Approximately 50 minutes later I rang the Scottish Ambulance Service, requesting an estimated time of arrival. I was advised that there was a delay due to the demand and a need to provide emergency cover in the area.
“Half an hour later I rang back as still no ambulance had arrived. At this point I was told that no ambulance had been dispatched yet as there was a vehicle out of the area, although they were trying to get a vehicle from the Greenock area.
“By now I had run out of oxygen. So I made the call a 999, emergency call. This, astonishingly was refused as they were ‘very busy’.
“Eventually, at 8.45pm, fully two and a half hours after my initial request, the ambulance arrived and transported the patient to hospital. It transpires that the ambulance crew had been told to go for their tea first.”
This is similar to a story we reported on last year, when a Dunoon ambulance crew was told that a patient had to be transported to Inverclyde, but as it was not an emergency they had to take their tea-break first. In actual fact, this particular patient was, unbeknown to the ambulance crew, also suffering from a heart condition and time was of the essence.
After this incident, Dr Coull decided to request some information under the Freedom of Information Act.
He requested ambulance response times for Category One calls made for Strachur, Dunoon, Lochinver and Inverness. His thinking behind this was that Strachur and Lochinver are similarly sized villages, and are approximately the same distance from their nearest towns, Dunoon and Inverness, which are themselves similar. He was, therefore comparing like-for-like in Argyll and the Highlands.
“The results are totally unacceptable.” said Dr Coull. “I have worked all over the country and have never seen response times as bad as this.”
Dr Coull provided The Observer with a copy of the statistics, and they make interesting reading.
Inverness had a 91.6percent success rate in meeting the one-hour target, with an average response time of 35 minutes. Dunoon had a 74.8percent strike rate with an average response time of 52 minutes.
Even more alarming, however, are the differences between the two villages. The ‘within the hour’ target was met 90.9percent in Lochinver and worryingly only 42.9percent of the time in Strachur.
The response times confirm the poor service in Strachur. Ambulances to Lochinver reach their destination in, on average, 52 minutes, compared to the shocking 109 minutes it takes to reach the Argyll village.
Dr Coull is at pains to point out that he does not blame the ambulance crews in any way whatsoever. “They are excellent.” he said, “The problems arise from the control room in Paisley. They don’t seem to appreciate that Dunoon and Vale of Leven hospitals have been downgraded.
“Neither of these hospitals have surgical or anaesthetic cover so they can therefore only deal with simple emergencies. No extra resources have been put in place to counter-balance this however. In fact, quite the opposite seems to have happened.”
Dr Coull is so incensed by the situation that he has written to George Lyon MSP. In his letters he has outlined that GPs in Cowal are now resorting to making, what should be Category One calls, into ‘immediates’. Thus, ambulances are now travelling on ‘blues and twos’, when sirens and lights are used.
This, Dr Coull points out, causes unnecessary inherent risks; however he feels that it is the only way that urgent GP patients can be transported to hospital in a safe time.


You couldn’t make it up . . .
. . . The controversy over rubbish collection from properties sited on unadopted roads reached a new plane last week, with a fresh development which can only be described as surreal.
Residents of three houses on the road leading to Ardnadam farm were informed last month that they were on the ‘hit list’. Because of the condition of the road the council would no longer be carrying out a doorstep uplift and that they would in future be expected to deposit their rubbish in a bin placed at the end of the road.
One of the residents, Christine MacLeod, said: “We were aware some time ago that there was a threat to the rubbish services, and in view of that we actually carried out quite a lot of reinstatement to the road surface ourselves. However, no-one came to see what we’d done, or to check whether we’d rendered the surface fit for the uplift to continue. They simply sent out a letter saying that they were going to discontinue the service.
Last Thursday was the first day of the amended service - if that’s the right word.
The rubbish lorry got to the end of the road, where the bin had been sited in an area used as a car park for the forestry trail.
“However, they then discovered that because of parked cars, they couldn’t turn the lorry.
“So they drove up our road - the very road that council officials had condemned as unfit for purpose - turned at the top and drove all the way back down.”
Mrs MacLeod asked them if it wouldn’t be sensible for the rubbish to be uplifted on the way.
The answer she got was; “We don’t do sensible.....’”
“I couldn’t agree more.” said Mrs MacLeod. “We’ve now got the ridiculous situation whereby they drive past our house to turn their vehicle, but can’t actually stop to pick up our rubbish on the way.
“And to rub salt in the wound, their lorry is wearing out the road surface that we’ve tried to put right.
“Who’s idea was this - Alice in Wonderland?”


Council poster requests ‘ridiculous’
Owners and managers of post office branches around Argyll and Bute were astonished and angered last week after receiving a letter from the council asking them to promote a scheme which will damage their over-the-counter business.
The letter, from Argyll and Bute ICT and Financial Services, accompanied a poster designed to promote the use of direct debit as the best way of paying council tax. Recipients were asked to display the poster on their customer notice boards.
To rub salt in the post offices’ wounds, the poster proudly announces a prize draw as an added incentive to anyone signing up to direct debit before March 30.
One post office business owner in Cowal said: “I was incensed when I received this. It is ridiculous that the council expects us to put these posters up for a service which will damage our business. I was so angry, I tore the poster up and threw it in the bin.
“We have a good number of people coming in to pay their council tax over the counter. It brings people into the shop, and the council have the cheek to expect us to advertise something like this - it is ridiculous, crass and insensitive, at best.”
At a time when the future of local post offices is under serious doubt following the announcement of government plans to reduce branches, the timing of this request could have been better.
Ironically, just four weeks ago (February 13), council members voted unanimously to submit a response to the government consultation, highlighting the importance of post offices to rural communities and the need for investment in the network.
At the time, council leader Allan Macaskill, said: “We want the best outcome for Argyll and Bute and we want to help protect public access to these vital services.”
The Observer contacted Argyll and Bute Council for their views, and they issued the following statement:
“The poster was mailed to post offices, general stores, supermarkets and banks with a request to display on public notice boards. It was a polite request, and left it entirely up to each recipient to decide if they wished to display or not.
“Currently, 58 percent of our council tax payers pay via direct debit and we would wish to increase this towards 65 percent, which is achieved by other councils.
“This policy of promoting direct debit is in line with the “Improving Council Tax Collection” report (prepared by Heriot Watt University in 2006 for the Scottish Executive) which has clearly demonstrated a strong correlation between levels of direct debit payers and total council tax collection.”
If you want to find out more about paying by direct debit, you would be advised not to visit your local post office. Of around half a dozen branches we spoke to earlier this week, all thought the request was ridiculous, and none planned to display the poster.


THE £10,000 DOG
A year ago, family pet Lewis the black labrador was lethargic, bloated due to water retention and close to death. At just 14 months old, he should have been a full of life, a coiled spring of energy and fun.
His owner, Patricia Watt of the Colintraive Hotel, was, needless to say, extremely concerned as her young dog’s health deteriorated. She visited local vets, and was told that there might be a kidney problem. Lewis was taken to Glasgow and Stirling for further tests, and it was at this point that vets noticed that he had a greatly enlarged heart.
Lewis was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect called heart valve dysplasia, and was in desperate need of an emergency heart valve replacement if he was to survive.
Remarkably, an operation of this kind has been performed on just half a dozen dogs worldwide.
Adding to the seriousness of the situation, it turned out that veterinary surgeon Dan Brockman, of the Royal Veterinary College, University of London was the only surgeon in the UK with experience of this type of operation.
Mr Brockman was able to perform the operation, but the only snag was the cost involved.
Patricia was faced with a stark choice - find around £10,000 to pay for a heart valve op in London, or allow Lewis to die.
Close to despair, and preoccupied with caring for the family pet while running her business, it wasn’t until someone asked if she had pet insurance that it occurred to her that Lewis was, in fact, insured.
The insurance company covered 75 percent of the costs, and Patricia was able to travel to London with Lewis for the risky but necessary operation, which was performed on April 8, 2006.
Almost one year on, Lewis is a picture of health. A friendly, placid dog by nature, he enjoys life and a shiny coat along with bright eyes bear testament to his recovery.
Patricia knows how lucky he is to be alive: “A year ago, Lewis was really far gone”, she said. He was very ill, and had slowed right up. Thank God he was insured, and he is now fitter than he was before the operation. He can now run along beside me when I’m out on my morning bike rides, which he could never have done before.”
Lewis will need check-ups every six months for the foreseeable future, but if his progress so far is anything to go by, he can look forward to a happy and healthy future socialising with the regulars in the Colintraive Hotel.