The Renfrewshire Access Panel received an exclusive request from the Ambulance Service to attend a show of new 
vehicles and give opinions on design and accessibility and make recommendations on how the system could be improved. The show was being held at the Ambulance depot in Falkirk, the week before attending the show the temperatures were 17c upwards, on the day we attended it was raining heavily and blowing a gale and was only 6c or as one would say “Bliddy Freezing” however this did not dampen our spirit only our clothes.
There were six new vehicles in total with chassis and bodies from various makers the technical representatives were excellent and talked us through the systems, we were free to explore the vehicles and it was a most enjoyable day.
We then went inside to dry off heat up and have welcoming cuppa, we were then asked for our opinions and we gave our feedback, but we all came up with same question why there is so little room inside for the medics to work we were informed that due to the amount of Hi tech equipment and oxygen and all the other vital essentials take up the most space, this combined with gross vehicle weight means they are working to full capacity. We were then informed that on many occasions they are asked to carry the patients wheel chair in the ambulance to hospital, this they have to refuse due to lack of space and safety reasons we were then asked our opinion on this we all agreed that and any crucial time lost loadin
g and unloading a wheelchair could be fatal. The point of an ambulance is to get you safely to hospital as quickly as possible.
Overall it was a very enjoyable day even though the weather was naff but one of the things that sticks in my mind was that 6 miles of wire are used when building an ambulance (that’s lot of wire) and the average cost of an ambulance is £100,000, we thanked them for their hospitality then left wiser and warmer.