Service rises to G20 challenge
Tuesday, 05 May, 2009
London Ambulance Service has returned to business as usual after rising to the challenge of providing medical cover for the G20 summit and connected demonstrations.
Deputy Director of Operations Richard Webber said: "With the capital hosting the G20 summit and the associated demonstrations and protests, we faced the significant challenge of ensuring that we could provide medical cover whilst maintaining our day-to-day service to our patients.
"We planned extensively for these events, working closely with the police, St John Ambulance and other ambulance services, and we are very pleased that we were able to manage the extra demand placed upon us by a high-profile meeting of world leaders in our area.
"Over a four-day period, we brought in 547 additional staff from our own ranks, as well as mutual aid from seven other ambulance services and St John Ambulance and I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work."
The busiest day for the Service was Wednesday (1 April) when 26 patients were treated and taken to hospital from the area of the protests in the City of London.
They included the patient who suffered a cardiac arrest and, sadly, later died. Staff attended four patients outside the ExCeL Centre during the summit, but they did not require hospital treatment.
Mutual aid was provided by:
South East Coast Ambulance Service,
North East Ambulance Service,
Welsh Ambulance Service,
South Central Ambulance Service,
West Midlands Ambulance Service,
North West Ambulance Service and
Guernsey Ambulance and Rescue Service.
