GreenShed wrote:
Quote:
"The good news was that I was able to deliver the organ to the hospital in Leeds in time for a successful transplant to take place later that day."
Not at all essential to speed and more importantly not an exempt vehicle or indeed an ambulance. I don't believe it has the authority to carry blue lights either.
It is effectively an organ taxi.
If they have difficulty then they should lobby for legislation change.
Mr Thomson was asked by the transplant surgeon to use the marked ambulance's blue lights and sirens to get the liver to Leeds as quickly as possible.
We do know that it was one of the hospitals Ambulance's, beyond that, and only using this article, we know little else.
But the questions asked are valid if they have not already been addressed by the Hospital Transport Department and other authorities.
The Police have implied that they don't consider it to be an Ambulance. Just because other areas of Scotland require a section 87 exemption, does not mean that this particular hospital required it, although the way that the article is written implies that this is the case, but it does not state it.
The article shows contradictions :
His employers contacted the police but were told they did not consider the vehicle, a marked ambulance, as being exempt from normal speed laws.
Implies that his employers believed that he was exempt. So one can assume that they too thought the vehicle was authorised to use B&T's and that this journey was crucial and necessary. The surgeon gave the urgency and it looks like the Hospital backed him up.
Now perhaps a section 87 exemption should have been filled out but if that is the only error then it is one of paper work by his employers not one of 'action' by the driver.
Then we have :
Mr Thomson said: "Lothian and Borders Police have made it very clear that they will not accept a section 87 exemption from private ambulance operators, despite the fact that the exemption is only ever used in emergency situations when we are working under contract to NHS Blood and Transplant."
But he was - wasn't he ? If not then who was he actually working for and under what authority does the ambulance come ?
Then :
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport in London said: "Existing laws exempt vehicles from speed limits if they are being used for ambulance purposes and where exceeding the speed limit is necessary for those purposes."
The Crown Office said: "Ultimately it is for the procurator fiscal to determine whether it is in the public interest to take action by taking the circumstances of the individual journey into account.
"We can readily accept that in some cases where the purpose of the journey is the swift delivery of transplant organs then it will not be in the public interest to take proceedings for a speeding offence."
Which tells me that they see that this journey was necessary, he was in an ambulance fitted with B&T's, that it was a journey for a crucial organ transplant, that he was therefor exempt, that a swift journey was required, and that therefor he ought to be exempt and that it will "NOT be in the public interest to take proceedings for a speeding offence."
Then :
A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: "We work closely with the NHS to establish the authenticity and credibility of any agency claiming to be carrying out work on their behalf when caught speeding.
"The decision to prosecute a driver for any motoring offence is made by the procurator fiscal."
So even the Police who claim to work closely with them - implying that they try to "establish the authenticity and credibility of any agency" has failed in this instance - s- again one of paperwork not one of action against the driver.
Also that this all ends up resting with the PF (procurator fiscal).
So why might the procurator fiscal then facing this official line of 'don't proceed' then decide alone to go against this approval and proceed 'anyway'?
I can understand and recognise that there are 'proper procedures 'that need to be followed. Google shows that it is 201 miles and (approx) 3hrs 55mins ([urlhttp://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Royal+Hospital+for+Sick+Children&daddr=St+James+University+Hospital,+Beckett+Street,+Leeds&hl=en&sll=54.873595,-2.267085&sspn=3.401135,7.69043&geocode=FZqNVQMdh1fP_yF7RoXTIwLY0inFmooSeMeHSDHwLQ3ykky10w%3BFQcKNQMd-8jo_yGJZhkPMiGQMQ&oq=St+James+University+Hospital+in+Leeds.&t=h&mra=ls&z=7]here[/url])
I know that it used to be that after 4 hrs an organ was starting to 'suffer' and deterioration occurs on a downward trend so speed is of the essence.
I would expect that as an ambulance driver that he has received all appropriate training for just these purposes. He also thought that he was exempt. And by that I would take it to mean (and obviously this ought to be backed up with appropriate paperwork from his employers) that he thought everything was in place for him to be exempt, when such occurrences took place, and he needed to travel above the legal limits.
I can see from the statements made that there has been no advantage served nor benefit to the public by the prosecution now served. What will happen is that ambulance drivers will become so nervous and so protective of their licenses that they will no longer go above the limits, and people will die, and so the public will suffer.
That is all negative for the public. Creating a system of paranoia is not one that serves the public just an over bureaucratic system that has forgotten about the real world, that it is meant to serve, not one that it is a slave to.
When Police have accidents it is bad, as they have failed on some level to adhere to their training or if they have had none then that is a failure of the whole system. Yet we do have police out there I standard police vehicles that are expected to travel as fast as possible to attend emergency situations, with no additional training whatsoever.
Now this is very bad IMHO. When Police are expected to travel quickly whether it be in PC Plod car, or their highest spec RPU then they need additional training to learn how to deal with the emotional and physical stresses, and (obviously) the additional requirements of skills and judgements that will be required of them to arrive safely.
When it is carried out in only very exceptional circumstances, then that training is what will help them to arrive safely and keep calm and confident. This was a long emergency journey that needed to be done at a rapid pace.
I would have thought as this was a Transplant vehicle that it clearly informed everyone that he came across that he was in a rush with precious cargo it seems to me that it was the best road vehicle. Why a plane wasn't right I don't know but maybe it was longer to organise and perhaps if they just got going it was the best overall. I am sure also as he will have been completely kitted out with all the necessary fridges and back ups and other necessary equipment too that it was in the safest place for that length of journey too.
Whilst this might serve as a nasty warning to all other emergency vehicles who now may wait to ensure that their bosses have all the paperwork in order before they set off, what will that do to public safety long term?
I already see police held up now by the public who are stuck with red lights and feel they have no where to go than through a red light and a camera flash. so the police leave on the B's and turn off the T's then when the lights go green back on with the T's !!!!! lets hope the person in trouble weren't worse off by the time they arrived having been delayed at various lights !
It has to be one of safety first. and in this case it looks like he was competent to do the job but not one where the paperwork matched the requirements. Perhaps the PC should have apportioned blame to his bosses.