CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE URGES AMBULANCE SERVICE TO PROVIDE SPEEDIER SERVICE TO RURAL AREAS IN
Caroline Nokes, the Conservative Candidate for Romsey and Southampton North has written to the Regional Chairman of the Ambulance service, Neil Goulden, asking what steps he intends to take to improve the ambulance service within rural areas of
Carolines concerns follow worries brought to her by local residents and the problem being identified as a key issue for Hampshire in the Audit Commissions One Place Survey published in December.
In the One Place Survey, the Audit Commission say
But people in rural areas wait longer for an ambulance than in neighbouring urban areas. This is a key issue and our 2010 areaassessment will report on progress in this.
In figures obtained by Caroline Nokes, it is clear that in some Test Valley Wards and not necessarily the most remote, the response times are well outside Government targets. For instance in 2009 for the Blackwater Ward (Wellow, Sherfield English and Awbridge) over 62% of ambulance calls for life threatening incidents are outside the Government target. For places like Over Wallop the figure reaches a staggering 86.7% outside the target.
Caroline says:
In rural areas we cannot expect the same speedy service as in towns. And I particularly pay tribute to the volunteers in the First Responders Service who really can and do make a big difference. Nonetheless, figures like the 84% in Over Wallop and 62% in Blackwater being outside the target are not acceptable.
We need to know what the cause of the problem is, just how serious are the implications and more particularly what is being done to address it.

Southampton City Council remains under Conservative control after last night& 39;s local election results, with strong Conservative wins in both Ba
The 2011 local elections in the part of the Romsey and Southampton North Constituency that is covered by Test Valley Borough Council were a success
After an exceptionally long day, at 3:45am we found out we had won with a majority of more than 4000 votes! This represents a swing of some 4.5% fr
Election day started bright and early in Romsey with a team of Conservative Future members from across Hampshire helping Caroline Nokes with the da
The last full day of campaigning was spent in Stockbridge, at Hampshire Collegiate School, Romsey and Valley Park. Clarissa Dickson-Wright the
A team of 30 people from across the South East descended on Romsey and Southampton North to get some final delivery done and show their support for
Today we were joined by a great team of Conservative Future members, who were supporting Caroline in Romsey, Swaythling and Bassett. Conserva