Patients are put at risk, say Highland first aiders in walk-out

FIRST-aid volunteers working in a remote Highland community have claimed patients are at risk due to a lack of emergency ambulance cover.

The West Ardnamurchan "First Responders" scheme - under which local people are trained to provide first aid while health staff travel to the scene - has collapsed after nine of its ten members quit in a row with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS).

Rosie Curtis, chairwoman of West Ardnamurchan Community Council, confirmed yesterday that the area's scheme had folded after a mass walk-out of members on Tuesday.

Mrs Curtis, one of those who quit, said members were "sickened" by what they saw as the SAS's determination to use them as a free alternative to a fully professional service.

But the ambulance service said First Responders were always used to enhance the local service, and never to replace it.

Mrs Curtis said: "West Ardnamurchan's First Responders are determined not to be exploited by a Scottish Ambulance Service which is hell-bent on saving money instead of providing proper 24-hour 999 cover. So we have resigned.

"Following NHS Highland's decision last December to withdraw its district nurses from 24-hour emergency cover, the ball has been in the ambulance service's court to find some way of delivering their statutory obligation to be on-scene within 30 minutes of an emergency, yet they keep talking of using us First Responders to hold the fort until help arrives.

"In a remote area like Ardnamurchan, this is downright dangerous, as the nearest ambulance is a minimum of 50 minutes away, and can take as long as two hours to get here.

"It puts us First Responders in an impossibly exposed position and severely threatens patients' wellbeing."

She added: "Right from the start of the scheme we were told that we would only be called out to support the district nurses in cases for which we were trained, such as those requiring CPR.

"And we were promised that, if we reached a patient first, professional help would be there within minutes."

However, she said, there were already signs of deterioration. "On the last occasion we had a call-out, we arrived first and it was over 40 minutes before we received any professional back-up - and that was a community nurse. The ambulance didn't turn up for over an hour."

The First Responders had dealt with four or five call-outs this year and had been there well before an ambulance on each occasion, Mrs Curtis said.

A letter of protest has been lodged with the SAS, and community representatives will meet with ambulance and NHS Highland officials on 8 August to hear what future medical provision is being planned for the area.

A spokesman for the SAS said: "It is disappointing that the local First Responder group has chosen to withdraw.

"Community First Responders are volunteers who are trained and equipped by the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide patient care while the ambulance is on its way. They are always used as an enhancement to existing resources - never instead of them.

"Far from reducing cover in the area, we have invested in additional staff to increase local resources, which are further supported by the air ambulance helicopter. We look forward to a constructive discussion at the meeting in August."