The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) is the main campaigning organisation for pensioners in the UK.
Our main objective is to promote the welfare and interests of all pensioners, as a way of securing dignity, respect and financial security in retirement.
The NPC represents around 1 million members in over 1,000 different organisations across the UK.
The NPC campaigns for both today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners; uniting the generations in defence of the welfare state and public services is an important part of our work.
As chairman of the Home Counties North (Beds, Bucks & Herts) Region of the NPC, I wrote to the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) Chief Executive as a result of your article “A risk to patient safety?”, (Watford Observer, August 10), in which I objected on behalf of our regional members to possible plans to use part-time civilian and military personnel to drive ambulances and to be involved in providing medical care.
I subsequently received a response from Mr Robert Morton, CEO of EEAST, in which he refuted the content of the Watford Observer article and claimed that a principal reason for low morale was the failure of a private ambulance service which the EEAST had to replace and introduce new rostering arrangements.
As your online article ‘The East of England Ambulance Service was ranked worst in the country for delayed responses’ reports, Mr Morton has a long way to go yet before he achieves the same levels of proficiency as ambulance and patient transport services in other English regions and Scotland.
We are holding a Regional Members Meeting for Home Counties North Region NPC members between 2pm and 4pm on Monday, 10 September in Committee Room 3, Luton Town Hall.
I intend to raise the subject of emergency ambulance and patient transport issues at the meeting, which I shall be chairing.
Local members interested in participating in the meeting are most welcome to attend.
To join the NPC as an individual national member and/or regional member go to https://www.npcuk.org/join-us-and-get-involved.
John Dowdle FRSA
Chair, National Pensioners Convention
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