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Panel Meeting on 3rd April 2006
8. Meeting with the Association of Professional Ambulance and Paramedic Staff (APAPS)
The Panel met Mr M. Judge and Mr G. O-Rourke of the Association of Professional Ambulance and Paramedic Staff (APAPS) to discuss the potential use of Ambulance crews to provide a driver service for the GP co-operative.
The Panel was advised that ambulance crews operated centrally from Ambulance Headquarters and would attend to emergency calls from there.
The Panel was advised that indications had been given to APAPS that any driver service involving ambulance crews would have been stopped if it had been found to have an adverse effect on responses to 999 emergency calls.
The Panel was informed that a meeting of approximately 20 ambulance staff had occurred on 6th March 2006 to consider the possibility of using ambulance crews to provide a driver service for on- call GPs. It was further informed that the following three options had been considered and that the third option had been chosen:
To use the two established ambulance crews to provide a driver service
To undertake a trial period of one month, during which a third ambulance crew would be established, in order to monitor the potential impact of providing a driver service
To have no involvement of the ambulance crews in providing a driver service
The Panel was advised that no written notice had been received by APAPS of the decision not to involve ambulance crews in the provision of a driver service for GPs.
The Panel was advised that workers in the Emergency Call Centre did not form part of APAPS. It was advised that concerns had been raised by workers in the Call Centre regarding the impact of the co-operative service on the Centre.