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Home , London Ambulance Service

50 facts about Service:

1. In 1965 London Ambulance Service became the largest service of its kind in the world. 2. In 63/64 ambulance services in and Wales employed over 12,000 men and 5,000 vehicles to carry out over 18m journeys. In 2014/2015 the ambulance services in England and Wales employ over 40,207 men and women, and 9,477 vehicles to carry out 9.8 million journeys. (NHS Choices) 3. London Ambulance Service‘s oldest station is , which is 138 years old. 4. London Ambulance Service’s newest station is , which was built in 2000. 5. The first major incident that London Ambulance Service attended, after being formed in 1965, was the Ronan Point, Newham collapse in 1968. The 22-story block partly collapsed when a gas explosion destroyed a load bearing wall. The Service sent a number of resources.(http://www.britishpathe.com/video/london-flats-disaster/query/newham - its copyrighted) 6. In 1974, London Ambulance Service recruited 32 16-17 year old boys and girls to London’s first ever cadet course. The course involved practical training in all departments of the Service. Nowadays it takes three years to train as a paramedic, who become highly skilled people, usually with a degree in paramedic Science. 7. In 2013 LAS trained more than 17,000 members of the public in (CPR) cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. 8. In 1967 defibrillators were first used on . In 2015 there are over 2,600 locations in London with at least one defibrillator; they include train and tube stations, museums, and gyms. Europe’s highest defibrillator has been installed within The View at the top of The Shard, over 240 metres above the ground. 9. If you start to suffer the symptoms of a at airport, don’t panic as it is actually the safest place to have a cardiac arrest in the capital. It has 222 defibrillators and a unique team of 15 bike riding . 10. From March 2014 – March 2015 London Ambulance Service spent £156,450 on blankets. 11. From March 2014 – March 2015 London Ambulance Service used 38,749 pairs of medical gloves. 12. In 1965 ambulance men and women weren’t trained to carry and administer drugs to patients. In 2015 Paramedics carry around 30 drugs with them to incidents. 13. In 1937 the 999 call service started in London. 14. In 1966 London Ambulance Service received one Million 999 ambulance calls. 15. In 2014, the LAS responded to approx. 1.7 million calls and attended over one million incidents. 16. January 1 2013 was the busiest day on record for the Service, when we received over 7,000 calls. 17. The longest serving member of staff working at London Ambulance Service is Kevin Walker, who has been with us for 47 years. He started his job as an ambulance man at 18 years old in 1966. 18. Before becoming the Service we know today, London Ambulance Service recruited the first female crew in the world in 1917. 19. In 1967 ambulance staff were expected to know the mechanics of the ambulances that they were driving. In 2015, London Ambulance Service has its own fleet mechanic team. The team is based at HQ in Waterloo and they fix and maintain ambulances and motorcycles on a daily basis. 20. In 2014 London Ambulance Service received 774 letters of thanks. These letters included a thank you note from Danny Wallace. 21. There are 1,273 volunteers currently working within the Service (annual review 13/14) 22. The London ambulance service has 900 ambulances, and has around 100 motorcycle and bicycles. (Wikipedia) 23. In 1991 the first motorcycle paramedics were used. They work in busy, built-up areas where it can be difficult for an ambulance or a car to get through. They are able to reach patients quickly and start to give life-saving treatment while an ambulance is on the way. 24. In 2000 the first bicycle paramedics were used. Over the years cycle response unit (CRU) staff have treated around 50,000 patients and travelled over 400,000 miles on duty: equivalent to more than 16 times round the circumference of Earth. 25. In 2005 London Ambulance Service launched the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART). The highly skilled team are trained to provide life-saving medical care in hostile environments such as industrial accidents and natural disasters. 26. In 2012 the Service launched the Joint Response Unit. The team is a specialist unit that works closely with the police from Thursday - Saturday. The JRU is used in high demand areas at peak times and directly responds to police officers' request for an ambulance. The team has attended 79,000 incidents by the Service. 27. St Michael the archangel is the patron saint of paramedics. 28. The snake entwined around the rod on the badge of London Ambulance Service is associated with the Greek god Asclepius, the god of healing. 29. London Ambulance Service has its own coats of arms. The Armorial Arms are supported by two winged unicorns which mean that patients can expect a speedy response to their care needs. 30. A prayer exists for London Ambulance Service. Prayer for the London Ambulance Service

Almighty God, we pray your blessing on the men and women of the London Ambulance Service as they care for those that are sick or injured. May they know your guiding hand as they offer their skills and training to those in need.

We thank you for the commitment and dedication of past and present staff. We ask that those who continue to serve would be protected from harm and show love and compassion to those they aid. May they bring peace to the distressed and healing to the hurt and in so doing reflect your loving nature.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen

31. The first defibrillator was used in 1899 by Jean-Louis Prevost and Frederic Batelli. The two physiologists discovered that small electrical shocks could induce ventricular fibrillation in dogs. 32. The first paramedics were aging Centurions, who were no longer able to fight. They were given the task of organising the removal of the wounded from the battlefield and providing some form of care. Such individuals, although not physicians, were probably among the world's earliest surgeons by default, being required to suture wounds and complete amputations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramedic) 33. The term ambulance comes from the Latin word "ambulare” as meaning "to walk or move about" which is a reference to early medical care where patients were moved by lifting or wheeling. (Wikipedia) 34. In 1774, the standard resuscitation regimen was to dry and warm the body by applying friction to the skin, and to administer tobacco smoke enemas.” (trauma.org). Luckily, we now have skilled medical professionals who can treat patients without using smoke. 35. There are specialist centers for heart, and trauma patients across London. This means that Londoners can get the most appropriate care straightaway, meaning a better survival rate. 36. In the early 20th century the Metropolitan Asylums Board, the organisation that provided the nation’s first state hospitals, used to operate river ambulances to transport smallpox patients to hospital in Darenth, near Dartford. 37. Waterloo is where London Ambulance Service’s Headquarters is based. It was opened in 1973 and for the first time provided a place for control, training and management functions under one roof. 38. London Ambulance Service operates over an area of approximately 620 square miles, from Heathrow in the west to in the east, and from Enfield in the north to Purley in the south. Within this area we provide an emergency healthcare service for over seven and a half million people living in London, as well as visitors and commuters. 39. Contrary to popular belief ambulance drivers are not exempt from normal traffic regulations. They can however us a red traffic light or stop sign as a give way signal. 40. London Ambulance Service is an active research organisation, regularly contributing to the research studies that inform and improve medical care in the UK and worldwide. 41. London ambulance Service has its own ceremonial squad that represents the Service at the Cenotaph each remembrance day and at other important occasions. 42. Ambulances were fitted with both a bell and two tone horns until the late 1970s because the two tone horns weren’t allowed to be used in the . 43. In November 2013, London Ambulance Service took over the running of NHS 111. From 2013 – 2014, we handled 106,698 calls, with 97.57 per cent answered within 60 seconds. 44. Dr James Cantile, a Scottish physician wrote the first manual on first aid which in 1875 was unknown. Before that no one knew how to stop a serious bleed or apply splints. (Wikipedia) 45. Together with James Elam, Peter Safar rediscovered the airway, head tilt, chin lift (Step A) and the mouth-to-mouth breathing (Step B) components of CPR and influenced Norwegian doll maker Asmund Laerdal of Laerdal company to design and manufacture mannequins for CPR training called Resusci Anne. (Wikipedia) 46. In total London Ambulance Service has 4,500 staff working for the organisation. As well as being based at ambulance stations, they are based at support offices across London. 47. London Ambulance Service has done lots of fundraising over the years and in the last 5 years alone we’ve raised £104,270. 48. LAS staff attended 673 patient and public involvement and public engagement events in 2014. 49. London Ambulance Service’s Emergency Operations Centre is has been awarded a centre of excellence three years in a row. The accreditation means that the team met the highest standards of dispatch. 50. During the 2nd World War the UK made thousands of metal decontamination stretchers to ferry casualties away from bombsites. These are now used as fences for hundreds of houses and tower blocks across London.( here is a picture)

Credit here for picture of WW2 stretcher