Review of the London Ambulance Service by the London Assembly

The London Ambulance Service Patients Forum has been asked to give evidence to this review on March 17th and the views of the Forum will be very significant having worked with the LAS for the last 8 years. The evidence will be taken at City Hall before the Health and Public Services Committee from 10am to 12pm and the meeting is open to the public. As I am unavailable on that date, the Forum's Vice Chair, Malcolm Alexander, will be on the panel. The LAS is totally opposed to any attempt by the Mayor and Assembly for it to fall within the Mayor's area of responsibility and has written to the Secretary of State to this effect. The Patients Forum has no firm view as yet on the issue.

London Ambulance Service

With 999 calls up by more than a quarter in five years, how well is the London Ambulance Service performing?

Our investigation

The London Assembly’s Health and Public Services Committee is investigating how the London Ambulance Service (LAS) is meeting current and future operational, financial and organisational challenges.

The service is expected to undergo significant changes as a result of reforms proposed in the Government’s recent NHS White Paper. The Assembly has also written to the Government suggesting that the LAS could become accountable to the Mayor because, unlike London’s other emergency services, he does not currently have any role in its governance.

These proposed reforms come as the LAS is facing rising demand for its services. It has seen a 28 per cent increase in the number of 999 calls received and has attended nearly a quarter more incidents in the past five years.

The Committee’s investigation will cover the following questions:

How well is the LAS currently performing, and how can performance be further improved?

How can the increasing demand for the services of the LAS be managed?

What services should be provided by the LAS? What are the implications of the LAS becoming a Foundation Trust?

What are the implications of the move from Primary Care Trust to GP commissioning of ambulance services?

To what extent should ambulance services in London be subject to greater competition?

What should be the relationship between the Mayor and the LAS?

As part of the investigation, the Committee will hold public meetings on 17 March and 6 April 2011 and a full report will be published in the summer.

We are inviting individuals and organisations to submit written views and information to the Committee. Our call for submissions contains more about the issues we are considering and tells you how you can contribute to the review.