ComeOnYouWolves wrote:Some interesting reading and discussion here. Regarding the NHS and how lean it is. I am sure that further savings can be made. One especially for Emergency Services. I'll give an example, outside Warrington Hospital, there is a Spar shop with a fuel station attached. Quite often, there is an ambulance on the forecourt filling up. Yes it's easy, however with the prices being ~10p a litre higher than other petrol stations. I would have thought quite a large saving could be made on fuel?
Most Ambulance services already hold bunkered stocks of diesel. However these stocks are at the main ambulance depots and these aren’t always within a suitable travelling distance given that the number of vehicles is stretched, the number of calls is massive and they have to be deployed geographically to cover wide areas, not to mention the targets of being at an emergency within a set time. It might in the example you give an idea to put a fuel bunker in at each Acute hospital. However I would expect that to be too expensive. I know Trusts that have a complete ban on any capital expenditure at the moment. Some even have bans on buying new things over £500. One I know isn't able to replace the broken projector and screen in their main meeting rooms due to costs.
It all boils down to the NHS living on the absolute edge costs wise. Unless it gets a big injection it can’t address things long term.