We feel like we are being slowly phased out, say angry volunteer medics

Members of the Ashley and Loggerheads Community First Responders say West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) has not offered training to new recruits since early 2017.

They also say they have been told that no new recruits will be trained until at least September 2021, by which time they warn the scheme may have folded due to lack of support from WMAS.

The group say a number of volunteers have dropped out in recent years after becoming frustrated with the seemingly endless wait for training.

The number of CFRs in Loggerheads has dwindled from 15 to just five since WMAS took over the old Staffordshire Ambulance Service in 2007.

It comes as anger grows over proposed changes to the CFR scheme in the county, which from April 1 will see enhanced responders no longer allowed to use blue lights on their vehicles or carry drugs.

WMAS insist the new measures, which include a qualification, will improve patient safety and boost the number of CFRs operating across the region. But critics say the changes will force some groups to close.

Simon Crofts, who lives in Loggerheads, says he volunteered three years ago but had to wait 18 months for an interview. He says that although he was accepted and given material for preliminary study, he has not been contacted by WMAS since.

“I now gather I have got to wait another 19 months to start initial training and induction,” he said.

According to Christine Powys, who was part of the group’s last training intake in 2017, the situation is commonplace.

She said training and re-training for existing CFRs was “simple, repetitive and very long winded”.

“It feels like training is being weaponised by WMAS,” she added.

Criteria

“They appear motivated only by two criteria: costs, and response times that do not include us. What is happening here, a hidden agenda? Or the muddle and delay of a management divorced from its community. Please motivate us with something positive.”

The issue of response times is a key one for CFRs in Staffordshire.

WMAS say the average back-up time – the period between the arrival of the CFR and the ambulance – is around seven minutes for a category one call (cardiac arrest), and 14 minutes for category two (heart attack, stroke).

But CFRs in the county argue that response times in the urban areas of the West Midlands are much shorter than in rural Staffordshire, where traffic can regularly back up on the country roads.

Mrs Powys also raised concerns about WMAS’s plan for CFRs to focus solely on category one and two calls.

“More than half the time I spend on call outs is for old people, mainly falls," she said.

“Giving them comfort and support is very satisfying, but we’re going to be banned from such category three and four calls. That would leave me each month with only one or two calls for an average 20 hours standing by.”

Her husband, Stephen Powys, said removing drugs and blue lights from enhanced CFRs was “a disaster waiting to happen”.

“We can get to places in our 4x4 that the ambulances just cannot get to,” he added.

“Take someone who has suffered a wasp sting and has an anaphylactic shock. Our advanced CFRs can get to them with an EpiPen. Without that they could be dead by the time the ambulance arrives.

“It might not be used very often, but when it is it can be extremely important.”

A coordinator in Staffordshire, who operates as an advanced CFR, said out of 6,000 calls in 15 years only "a handful" had seen an ambulance arrive within 20 minutes.

The coordinator said the WMAS proposals would lead to CFR groups in the county shutting down.

Reducing

“CFRs are here to help the public in rural areas where the ambulances struggle to get to,” the coordinator said. “One way or another, WMAS is reducing our ability to be helpful to our communities.

“As we can’t train anyone until September 2021, I’m not sure how we can have more responders. With natural wastage I would expect you will have quite a few groups closing.

“They don’t think they are being treated well by the ambulance service, and a lot of them no longer feel they can provide a useful service anymore.

“Rather than using the skills we have got – which can keep people alive before an ambulance arrives – they are going to get rid of them.

“Instead of going down the route of bringing everyone up to a higher level, they are removing the advanced training.”

WMAS spokeswoman Claire Brown said the trust was committed to training 350 CFRs each year under the new Futurequals qualification, with an initial focus on existing CFRs. It is hoped the first four-day course will launch in July 2020, although Futurequals has not yet signed off on the training.

"As the only ambulance service to have received a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating, we will not cut corners just to make sure the course starts in July, we will make sure it meets all of the needs of our CFRs, the trust and patients before we allow it to commence," she added.

"September 2021 is the date that all current CFRs, without a regulated qualification from Futurequals, must have completed the new training if they wish to continue responding on behalf of WMAS."