The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) has welcomed new research published today (27 March 2015) by the national lead working group on emergency service collaboration that recognises the well-established culture of inter-service co-operation that already exists among the UK’s emergency services, while highlighting potential opportunities for greater collaborative working in the future.
The AACE has consistently welcomed calls for closer collaboration among blue light services as long as the number one priority for ambulance services – patient care – is improved and not diminished in any way.
The Emergency Services Collaboration Working Group (ESCWG) commissioned the research to identify ways in which blue light services might work together to improve services for the public at a time of increasing demand for certain services and against a backdrop of public funding efficiency drives. Its aim was also to find ways to increase the scope and speed of collaboration between services in England and Wales.
Association of Ambulance Chief Executives Managing Director Martin Flaherty OBE, says:
This interesting research shows how much hard work is already going into sensible and appropriate joint working initiatives across the emergency services, and underlines how there are undoubted benefits of closer collaboration where our services overlap.
However, it is important to remember that each of the three services has different objectives, and the ambulance service is first and foremost an intrinsic part of the NHS providing a wide range of clinical services – not just an emergency response – meaning in reality there are actually relatively few crossovers in front line services between ourselves, fire & rescue and the police.
That said, AACE’s members remain firmly committed to the concept of closer working between the three blue light services as long as any new initiatives are sensible, workable and deliver genuine benefits for patients and the public.”
The research was undertaken by the Universities of Nottingham, Birmingham and the West Coast of Scotland in conjunction with the charity Skills for Justice. More than 50 in-depth interviews were conducted with emergency service leaders and front line staff in Greater Manchester, Surrey, Sussex, South and Mid Wales, Lincolnshire, Hampshire and Lincolnshire.
A number of Chief Fire Officers, Chief Constables, Ambulance Chief Executives, Fire Authority Chairs, Police and Crime Commissioners and emergency service unions in England and Wales also provided feedback. Importantly, the public were also surveyed and the results showed an overwhelming number of people believed the emergency services should work together more often to deliver better services.
The report is available to view here.
