St John Ambulance, the charity, has been accused of abandoning its volunteers as it attempts a widespread restructuring project.The first aid organisation has announced plans to streamline its management amid financial woes.

It is set to embark on a major restructuring exercise to rebalance its books, which includes setting up eight regional boards and merging offices in 41 regions.

But the charity, which has recorded operating losses seven years in a row, is accused of “kicking volunteers in the teeth” by those who regularly help out.

They claim that disillusioned volunteers will no longer want to raise money if the cash goes in a central pot rather than helping local projects.

“All counties work in their own particular way according to their local people and in a way that can only be done by them,” one senior volunteer said.

“If the structure is changed … what incentive is there for local people to volunteer and raise money?”

A former chairman of a county division claimed the changes would lead to “financial ruin”.

“We are absolutely horrified because we feel that this restructure is doing away with the strong volunteer ethos of St John’s. It’s like kicking volunteers in the teeth” she said.

Under the plans eight regional directors will be created on salaries of £80,000 a year plus benefits to represent London, the south east, south west, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, North-West and North East.

Officials admitted that “financial” pressures were partly behind the new structure as well as “increasing regulation”. It denied it was in “imminent financial crisis”.

While the service claimed there would be no redundancies the charity admitted “some roles have been placed at risk and are therefore undergoing consultation”. It would not provide further details.

The charity, founded in 1877, currently employs about 1600 staff across the country and has more than 40,000 volunteers on its books.

It trains more than half a million people a year and has more than 1000 ambulances that provide support to NHS trusts. The Duke of Gloucester is the service’s Grand Prior of the Order.

In a letter sent to volunteers around the country, Rodney Green, the charity’s Prior and chairman of board of trustees, admitted the organisation faced a “number of difficult challenges in the years ahead”.

A briefing note sent to volunteers explaining the changes, said the organisation needed to increase its “charitable and community impact”.

“We need a greater consistency in our quality – so that we can meet more stringent regulatory requirements and also better support the front line,” stated the document, titled “Becoming ‘The Difference’: transforming St John Ambulance”.

“More urgently, we need to balance the books and achieve secure finances.  For seven years running, we have spent more than we earned and are set to make further losses this year. The charity cannot sustain this.”

Mr Green insisted the changes, signed off by the trustees last month following “rigorous analysis of the current structure”, would transform the organisation “so that we can save yet more lives”.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/St-John-Ambulance-abandoning-volunteers-over-restructure-project

The number of under-18s admitted to hospital because of drinking has increased by a third, according to a new report.The figure went up by 32 per cent between 2002 and 2007, with 36 children a day being admitted for alcohol related conditions, the study by the charity Alcohol Concern found.

Over the last five years, London Ambulance Service responded to 11,780 alcohol-related call-outs involving under-18s at a cost of more than £2.5m, the research showed.

In 2009/10, West Midlands Ambulance Service responded to 1,296 alcohol-related call-outs involving under-18s at a cost of almost £250,000, while the North East Ambulance Trust responded to just under 1,000 at a cost of £175,000.

In all cases, more young girls were seen by ambulance crews than young boys, the charity said.

Alcohol Concern also found that between 2004 and 2009 28% more girls were admitted to hospital via accident and emergency departments for alcohol than boys – 23,347 girls compared to 18,159 boys.

The report ‘Right time, right place: Alcohol-harm reduction strategies with children and young people’ calls for earlier identification of young people engaged in ‘risky’ drinking such as young people attending A&E or getting into trouble with the police for alcohol, so they can access information, advice and support.

The charity’s chief executive, Don Shenker, said: “As long as alcohol remains as heavily promoted as it currently is, young drinkers will continue to consume far more than they might otherwise, leading to inevitable health harms, wasting ambulance and police time.

“As well as tackling the ludicrously cheap price of alcohol in some settings, we want all under-18-year-olds who turn up at A&E to be advised and supported to address their drinking.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “This report shows the devastating impact that alcohol has on the lives of young people who drink too much. We must educate them so they understand how bad it is for their health now and in the long term. And we must do more to stop shops selling alcohol to under 18s.

“Everyone has a part to play in this. Parents, police, education and social services need to work together. The new Public Health Service will give communities the power and budget to tackle alcohol problems in their areas.”

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/figures-show-rise-in-drinkrelated-hospital-admissions-for-children

A quarter of health trusts failed to meet standards over hospital infections while five were warned over blood-spattered walls and mouldy instruments under a toughened regulatory regime.

Of particular concern was the state of ambulances, which were inspected for the first time. Investigators found dirty forceps stored in some vehicles as well as bloodstains.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) used its sweeping powers last year to assess how well NHS trusts were coping with hospital infections – which affect 300,000 patients a year.

Of the 167 trusts inspected, 42 were found by the commission to be in “breach” of NHS registration requirements by not meeting standards.

All 11 ambulance trusts in England were assessed – and four found to have violated the terms of their NHS contracts.

Things were so bad that ambulance services in the north-west, east of England and east Midlands received formal warnings for the state of vehicles and stations.

The CQC, derided by critics as a toothless watchdog for “naming and shaming but not paining”, revealled that it has been granted the power to impose tough sanctions that could see failing hospitals warned, prosecuted, fined up to £50,000 and ultimately closed down if they fail to comply with the regulator’s edicts.

As a test-run of this regime the commission was authorised to examine the risks in the NHS of healthcare- associated infections and the results revealed that a minority appeared to take a cavalier approach to safety.

The reasons for failure were worrying: 36 trusts were not providing areas to decontaminate instruments; in three trusts there was a failure to regularly flush unused water outlets – crucial for the control of legionella infections; and 13 trusts were criticised for not keeping clinical areas clean.

Nigel Ellis, the CQC’s head of national inspection, said: “Good infection control takes constant vigilance – and meeting that every day, for every patient, is an ongoing challenge for the NHS.

“We have found evidence of a direct risk to patients and have intervened using our new enforcement powers to ensure swift improvements were made.”

Of these failing trusts, five had to be issued with a warning notice – the first step towards losing the right to operate in the NHS. Investigators pinpointed several serious transgressions, especially in ambulances.

In the north-west vans were stocked with dirty neck braces that were continually reused despite health guidelines urging disposal after one patient’s use.

At Stockport ambulance station, vehicle interiors were “seen to have stains (which appeared to be bloodstains) on the walls as well as visible dirt on the floor and walls”.

In Essex “hand wipes were not available” and “poor levels of cleanliness” were found in 22 out of 23 vehicles inspected. Ambulance equipment in the East Midlands was singled out for being “visibly dirty, including suction units, defibrillators and the tips of forceps”.

The hospitals highlighted for poor practice were both foundation trusts: Basildon and Thurrock university hospitals, and the world-famous Alder Hey children’s foundation trust in Liverpool.

In Basildon, where the commission’s old ratings system had come under fire last year for labelling the hospital “good” weeks before it emerged that dozens of patients might have died after receiving substandard care, investigators found a dismal scene: “Procedure trays used by staff to carry equipment when they take blood samples or give injections had blood spattered on them … a commode soiled under the seat.” Out of date equipment was also found in the emergency stores.

In Alder Hey, one of Europe’s largest children’s hospitals, the inspection revealed dirty toys, hair stuck to medical equipment and “nappy changing mats stored on the floor next to a toilet … and a dirty baby bath was inside the full-size bath”. The water “ran brown” from taps in rooms ready for patients to be admitted.

The commission said the threat of further measures had pushed the offenders into cleaning up their act. Hospitals and ambulance trusts were forced to set up better procedures, buy new equipment and “deep clean” wards and vehicles – or face a rolling wave of inspections. The last of the conditions imposed for infection control was removed only last December.

Under the new regime CQC can send teams of investigators, accompanied by groups of patients, to hospitals to see whether they match “client” expectations. The bolstered regime is capable of 2,000 unannounced visits a year – three times the current level. “We want to put the patient at the heart of what we do,” said Dame Jo Williams, acting chair of the commission. “Doesn’t matter if it’s the health service, the banking system or Tesco, there is something about the way you are treated as a patient or a client or a customer.”

From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/quarter-nhs-trusts-failing-hygiene-tests

The NHS has wasted more than £11m using ambulances as “waiting rooms” to get around Labour’s target that patients should be treated within four hours of entering casualty.

New figures reveal the time spent by crews waiting outside hospitals for their patients to be admitted last year was the equivalent to funding 31 fully staffed ambulances to do nothing for 24 hours a day.

The statistics released by NHS ambulance trusts show the amount of time ambulances are forced to remain idle is increasing each year. In the first nine months of 2009 the total so-called “dead time” in England reached 284,000 hours — more than the whole of 2007.

The four hour target was introduced in 2004 in an effort to end the scandal of patients left on trolleys overnight waiting to be seen by doctors.

However, it has led to hard-pressed casualty departments refusing to admit patients until they can be sure they can be seen within the four hour limit. Waits of more than two hours occur in hundreds of cases each year.

Mike Penning, a shadow health minister, said: “It is a scandal that desperately needed frontline paramedics are trapped at hospitals around the country because of Labour’s fixation with the target culture.

“It can’t be right that bureaucracy has taken over from clinicians being able to put patients first, rather than watching the clock. Millions of pounds are being wasted and patients are suffering.”

The Conservatives have promised to slash the number of NHS targets and hand more power to doctors.

From: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7078867.ece