Soldiers to join Welsh Ambulance Service in pandemic response

Soldiers have partnered up with ambulance teams to help bolster the NHS' emergency response during the coronavirus pandemic.

Servicemen from several British Army units have been loaned to the ambulance service in Wales to accompany paramedics out on calls, ahead of an anticipated surge in demand on staff whose numbers have already been depleted by self-isolation.

Credit: Ministry of Defence

60 soldiers have finished their two-day ambulance training at the Sennybridge Training Camp near Brecon and are now ready to be deployed across Wales along with firefighters who will also undergo the same training.

Army personnel will not be able to travel under blue lights to emergencies, but their tasks will involve driving ambulances, lifting and handling patients and assisting paramedics with non-clinical tasks.

This will allow usual paramedic teams to split up and spread their resources across their fleet.

Credit: Ministry of Defence

The Welsh Ambulance Service, who provided the training package, says between 15% and 20% of their workforce are currently off work self-isolating, though the figure fluctuates day by day.

Some of the soldiers involved have experienced serving on the frontline in operations abroad, including Staff Sergeant Raymond Richardson who has served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Northern Ireland.

He said he and 10 others from his 14 Signal Regiment based in Pembrokeshire had been wanting to help with the response to the pandemic, despite being aware of the risks involved.

Credit: Ministry of Defence

Brigadier Andrew Dawes, Commander Joint Military Command Wales, said he had been given assurances that military personnel would be given the correct equipment to protect themselves on the frontline.

He said: "One of the key asks from the ambulance service was that they will treat our own people exactly the same as they treat their own workforce."

Jason Killens, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service, said he recognised the image of soldiers in uniform accompanying paramedics could be alarming to patients, but that it was needed to make sure ambulances were available to people "when they need us the most".

He said: "I reassure the community this is nothing to worry about. If you do need to dial 999 in the coming weeks and an ambulance with a soldier or firefighter turns up, that's OK, it's planned, and the clinical care they receive will be the same."

Mr Killens said his ambulance staff were concerned about growing pressures on the service and of disruptions to the supply of protective equipment, but were still focused on their jobs ahead of an expected peak in cases in the coming weeks.

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