Serious concerns have been raised about ambulance response times in rural Wales following the tragic death of a woman earlier this month. Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts has called for an urgent investigation into the emergency services' response to the incident in Barmouth, Gwynedd, on Sunday, July 10.
Mrs Saville Roberts said North Wales Police were called to two separate and unconnected incidents in the seaside town with officers choosing to remain with the female casualty until an ambulance arrived. However she claimed it took an hour for an ambulance to arrive from Machynlleth which is 26 miles away. She explained that no crews were available in ambulance stations at Barmouth itself and neighbouring Dolgellau which meant a vehicle had to navigate "slow, rural roads" to reach the patient who could not be saved.
The MP has also sought clarity on what plans are in place to deal with the influx of visitors to the area over the summer months to ensure staff are on hand to deal with emergency calls. Her comments were made in a letter to the chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST), Jason Killens, and chief constable of North Wales Police (NWP) Carl Foulkes.
Read more: 'I watched my mum die in front of me after we waited seven hours for an ambulance'
In the letter the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd said: "I am writing to request information about how North Wales Police and Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust will be investigating the emergency services' response to an incident at Barmouth on Sunday, July 10, which tragically concluded with a woman's death. I understand that NWP officers were required to deal with two challenging unconnected incidents in Barmouth and that their work was impacted by the need to attend the casualty while waiting approximately an hour for an ambulance to arrive from Machynlleth.
"In spite of the presence of ambulance stations at Barmouth and Dolgellau no crew were available to attend locally. Machynlleth is 26 miles from Barmouth and the journey is hindered by slow rural roads. While appreciating the details of the Barmouth death will be subject to legal restrictions at present in terms of what may be discussed in the public domain following an arrest and also in anticipation of an inquest I request that NWP and WAST commit to publishing their respective investigations as soon as possible.
"There is considerable public interest in both ambulance response times and how ambulance crews based in Dwyfor Meirionnydd are deployed and the degree to which police resources are being diverted to deal with emergency health incidents in the constituency. I also request details about what plans are in place over the next six weeks to deal with the influx of visitors in July and August to ensure safe emergency services and qualified medical staff are on hand to deal with health emergency calls in rural Gwynedd. While local people appreciate that the emergency services remain under pressure following Covid it would be utterly unacceptable for a death to occur in circumstances such as those experienced in Barmouth last week without full public accountability by the authorities entrusted with public safety."
In response Mr Killens said: “The extreme pressures across the NHS in Wales have been well-documented and we accept that our response times have been disappointing, especially in parts of rural Wales. Extensive hospital handover delays and a rising number of life-threatening ‘red’ calls has led to some very long waits for patients in recent weeks, especially with hot weather and Covid-19-related staff absence adding further pressure. Unfortunately the challenges impacting our ability to respond in a timely way extended beyond the ambulance service and it will take a system-wide effort to resolve these deep-rooted system-wide issues.
"We received correspondence from Liz Saville Roberts MP and will be investigating thoroughly, working with our North Wales Police colleagues to do so. In the meantime our staff and volunteers will continue to work extremely hard to deliver as safe a service as possible in the face of the sustained and extreme pressure our service is experiencing. Our thoughts are with the family of the person who sadly passed away."
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