Today as I drove past our ambulance station in Bagshot Road I noticed that what is the equivalent to a ‘For Sale’ notice has been erected. Also today I met Jonathan Lord, our MP, who informed me that the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) have failed to respond to the questions he has put to them.  So it would appear that SECAmb are going ahead with the closure of our ambulance station without any consultation or explanation to those who will be affected or their elected representatives.

It is also clear, given the speed in which the land has been put up for sale, that the main reason for closing our ambulance station is cost and by selling the land SECAmb make money.

In recent weeks we have been critical of the emergency ambulance cover for our area and quoted from the CQC report. We feel we must point out that there was good news in the report under the heading ‘Compassionate care’:

‘During our inspection we heard numerous examples of compassionate care displayed by ambulance staff. This was supported by our observations of staff in their interaction with patients and carers. Ambulance staff were aware and sensitive to the dignity and respect of patients ensuring that they were transported with appropriate blanket coverage.’ CQC Report September 2016

The feedback we have received from residents has been that they find ambulance staff and paramedics are friendly and helpful.

However there is still a serious issue with the speed that ambulances are getting to the very urgent 999 calls. In the latest figures* SECAmb Trust received 1,347 Red 1 calls resulting in an emergency response arriving at the scene, but only 64.6% arrived on the scene within the 8 minute target. NHS England expect 75% of Red 1 calls to achieve a response within 8 minutes.

We at the KRA have put a number of key questions to our elected representatives, MP and County Councillor, and we await answers to these questions. The most basic question being; “How will the closure of the ambulance station in Knaphill help improve the response time to urgent 999 calls?”

*Taken from NHS England, covering the period August 2016. SECAmb = South East Coast Ambulance Foundation Trust which covers Surrey.

The Royal Oak, located at the bottom of Anchor Hill, is a 17th Century Inn, which welcomes everyone including families & dogs. It has a large beer garden, and parking at front at the pub, as well as 5 real ales and over 10 real ciders & perries.  The pub is famous for its Bridge, Sunday Roast & Curry Nights.

This year the Royal Oak has won:

– Pub of the Season Award – by Surrey/Hants Branch for Pub of the Season 2016

– Gained entry into the Good Beer Guide 2017 by CAMRA National

– Woking Best in Bloom – Pub Beer Garden – The Royal Oak has come 2nd for 2016

If you’re a member of CAMRA you can get discount on all Real Ales & CIders/Perries.

When the KRA started to look at the ambulance service we concentrated on the proposed closure of the Knaphill ambulance station with staff and vehicles being transferred to Ottershaw. However the bigger picture is more worrying.

Our ambulance service is provided by South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) and this is an NHS foundation trust. SECAmb covers Kent, Surrey, Sussex and NE Hampshire, the first question is this too big to be efficient? On the 29September the Core Quality Commission published their inspection report and overall the quality of service provided by SECAmb was rated as inadequate for the second consecutive inspection and the service was put into special measures. When the CQC put an organisation into special measures it means that they have no confidence in the current management team bringing about sufficient change to improve the situation. I have now read the 29 page executive summary and it does not make pleasant reading.

Response times

One of the areas where the CQC is highly critical is the ambulance service’s response to serious 999 calls.

The first test is the speed the ambulance service answers 999 calls and according to the CQC SECAmb is benchmarked as the worst performing trust nationally for answering 999 calls within 5 seconds.

Turning to the time taken for an ambulance to reach the patient. Serious 999 calls are slit into Red1 and Red2. Red1 calls are those of life threatening nature and Red2 calls less urgent but including strokes and fits. For Red1 calls the target is for the response to be within 8 minutes and this should be achieved on at least 75% occasions to meet the national target. SECAmb only achieved 71%. For Red2 the national target for responding within 9 minutes is 75%, SECAmb only achieved 67.3%. The CQC state that the performance was significantly varied between different control centres within the trust. For one control centre the performance fell as low as 33% for Red1 calls and 55.8% for Red2 calls.  The CQC do not name any ambulance station so we do not know how Knaphill or Ottershaw perform when compared to the national targets.

Returning to where we started, the future of the Knaphill ambulance station. The KRA has sent both Jonathan Lord MP and County Cllr. Saj Hussain a number of questions that we feel residents need answers to to measure the quality of service they received from the Surrey based ambulance stations and what the impact of the closure will have on response times.

There were good points in the CQC report. The CQC rated the service good for caring and the attitude from staff to their patients.

Phil Stubbs

Green-fingered gardeners and growers from across the Borough were celebrating the fruits of their labour recently at the annual Woking in Bloom and Allotment Awards, held at H.G Wells Conference and Events Centre, with Knaphill once again figuring among the top prizewinners.

The cream of the gardening crop received their prizes at a special presentation evening, attended by the Mayor of Woking, Cllr Anne Murray. Prizes for the winners and runners-up included garden centre gift tokens and trophies.

Woking Borough Council would like to thank sponsors Squires Garden Centre, Serco and Lansbury Business Estate for their continued support of the Woking in Bloom competition.

Woking in Bloom results

Best large front garden – sponsored by Woking Borough Council

1st – Barry and Pam Gray, Knaphill

Best tub or container – sponsored by Serco

1st – Mr and Mrs Stevens, Knaphill

 Best floral public house

2nd – The Royal Oak, Knaphill

3rd – The Anchor, Knaphill

Allotment Awards

Tunis Cup for best allotment site in Woking Borough

1st – Knaphill Allotment Association

Ashley Slocock Cup for best cultivated plot by a lady

1st – Mrs Linda Jaquenoud, Knaphill Allotments

3rd – Mrs Marie Williams, Knaphill Allotments

Benstead Scroll for best cultivated plot by someone over 70 years old

2nd – Mr Francis Maher, Knaphill Allotments

3rd – Mr Chris Kersley, Knaphill Allotments

Leam Challenge Shield for best newly cultivated plot

1st – Mrs Sarah de Mul, Horsell Allotment Society

2nd – Mrs Jo Haward, Knaphill Allotments