CUTS to all three of Frome’s emergencies services have raised concerns that the town will be left ‘vulnerable’ and lives ‘put at risk’.
Already this year, Frome has been told that its police patrol officers, who respond to 999 and serious 101 calls, will be relocated to Shepton Mallet; and that its on-call fire service could be reduced during the day from two fire engines down to one.
And now changes are coming to Frome’s ambulance service, with a reduction in the provision of rapid response units – which can provide emergency treatment ahead of an ambulance’s arrival – expected from March 2021.
The upcoming changes are part of South Western Ambulance Service’s ‘Our People Plan’, which they say will also increase the availability of double-crewed ambulances in the Frome area, leading to better response times for patients’.
However, when pushed by Frome Times to provide evidence to support these claims, South Western Ambulance Service declined, explaining that the plan is ‘sensitive’, ‘subject to funding’ and ‘yet to be finalised’.
In response to the upcoming and proposed changes to Frome’s emergency services, Mendip District Councillor for Frome, Helen Sprawson-White, has called for a rethink on the plans, highlighting the increasing population of the town, which could put pressure on reduced services.
“All emergency services are vital to keep us safe, and what concerns me is the predicted growth of the town,” cllr Sprawson-White told Frome Times. “It’s logical to think that with more people there will be more incidents, for all emergency services.
“We are already a town of around 30,000, and that is set to grow by thousands over the next five to 10 years. When lives are in danger, the services won’t be there to protect them -and by then it could be too late, as history shows, that once you lose something, you don’t get it back.
“If you reduce the number of people on the ground, that’s less people responding to accidents. Time with the fire and ambulance services is critical – and these cuts could mean people not getting intervention early, which could result in life-changing injuries or worse.
“We cannot look at the short-term and make these cuts, we need to be looking at the long-term need of Frome. It makes no sense to make cuts when the town is growing. We should be looking at the infrastructure of the town and investing in that. The Frome community deserves to feel safe and secure moving forward – right now, the community is vulnerable.
“All services are facing cuts from the government – education, NHS, across the board – so we really need to lobby our local representatives and ask them to look at this and consider where our priorities should be. Lives can’t be the cost of these cuts.”
About the upcoming changes to the ambulance service a spokesperson for South Western Ambulance Service said, “We’re planning to reduce the provision of rapid response units and increase the availability of double crewed ambulances in the Frome area, which will lead to better response times for patients in this locality.”
And he added, “I’ve spoken with Steve (Boucher) our Somerset County Commander who confirmed we haven’t made any recent cuts to the service, and won’t be making any changes until March 2021. That’s within the ‘Our People Plan’ which is focussed on having more paramedics available in the right places to reach patients quickly.
“We’ve has been working with commissioners to reduce demand on the ambulance service and improve response times. We’ve been given an extra £12million for additional resources required to boost our performance.
“The new investment, called the ‘Our People Plan’ means we can recruit an extra 240 frontline staff, so we can deliver even better patient care. It’s also enabled us to review and plan where our resources need to be located, based on current and predicted demand.”
