Cameras not closures, says the London Ambulance Service

At Southwark Council’s Environment Scrutiny Commission Zoom Meeting 09.03.2021 - YouTube, the London Ambulance Service’s representative, Darren Farmer, explained that any road closures – any road blocks – don’t just impact blue light responders. A broad range of health workers are affected, including “Community First Responders” (volunteers in their own cars providing emergency treatment, like a defibrillator for those in cardiac arrest), community nurses, patient transport going to and from cancer appointments, and council care services. 

Asked for an overview of how recent traffic schemes had impacted emergency response times, Darren Farmer said (see 1.03.56) that it was really hard to crystallise it to one factor. Nothing had been normal in health over the past twelve months: there had been massive peaks and troughs in demand. But, he said, overall travel times from scene to hospital had risen by about two minutes, from 14 to 16.5 minutes. 

In addition to this, the LAS has captured 170 incidents where they feel that there may have been a delayed response as a result of the changes in infrastructure, and 51 of those (30% across the whole of London) had been in Southwark. Darren Farmer said, “We’ve noticed that where we see camera-controlled access, we have much lower levels of incident reporting.”

Asked by Cllr Jason Ochere whether the London Ambulance Service preferred cameras, Darren Farmer said (see 1.08.15), “Yes, that’s the feeling from all the emergency services” and (1.09.19) “You’re absolutely right – cameras is the answer.”

So why, Southwark Council, are you persisting with 24/7 closures at Dulwich Village junction – hard closures that don’t just delay the emergency services, but also prevent key health professionals from getting through?