1970’s  THE CHANGES CONTINUE

The official opening of the new Surrey Ambulance complex at Banstead on January 9th 1970 by the then Lord Lieutenant of Surrey the Earl of Munster, was to take the service into the next decade.   Although the administrative headquarter staff were still at County Hall the service would look to Banstead in future as their H.Q.  

Those early years of the 70's were full of expectation, with service back  on a firm foundation after the trauma of losing part of itself to London in the middle of the 60's.  Not all plans for the future were to come to fruition however, provisional approval had been granted by the ministry for  a 30 bed roomed residential block, to house  up to 40 recruits  for the training school,  which had become one of eight regional schools; but unfortunately this was to come to nothing.  The same happened in the search for a purpose built vehicle for the service. Experiments with a Dennis vehicle, specially designed for ambulance work, was dropped for various reasons.

Despite disappointments the service was looking  forward to the future, which was to see yet more changes.  Headquarters  moved to Guildford in 1973  in preparation for the Surrey Area Health  takeover , due to take place during 1974. This however was not  very successful, and in 1975 HQ  moved to the new complex at Banstead.  This proved  a much wiser choice, for not only did it bring HQ closer to the day to day running of the service, the building itself was to prove so adaptable, that it would be able to support the service for many years to come.  

Ambulance staff of the time expected the overall management of the service to become more national but although a lot of  aspects were made more uniform countrywide, each county still run independently.  An interesting aside, Godalming Red Cross gave up their agency, the last of the agency stations in Surrey, and probably in the country  A year later saw the retirement of Mr J Bedford, to be replaced by his deputy Mr E Bates, who was to become a hands on Chief Ambulance Officer. Having worked his way through the service, starting as an  Ambulance man at Purley,  Station Officer at Warlingham , followed by a spell as Control Superintendent  at Malden, and then after, 10 years as deputy,  finally as Chief.  Loved or loathed one thing  was certain, if he had been a stick of rock Surrey Ambulance would have been printed right through him.  

 Mr Bates  was to guide the service through some very difficult years,  having to cope with personnel problems, (this was a countrywide problem not just confined to Surrey), the advance of new technology, and change of the governing  body,  all of which he took in his stride.  Too slow according to some, too quick according to others, but on one thing he was adamant Surrey Ambulance Service had to be the best.
Mr P Wattison was to succeed him as Deputy Chief, he had also worked his way up through the service, starting at Woking initially as a Control Operator, then as an Ambulance Driver before transferring to Chertsey, where he moved through the ranks first as Station Supervisor,  Assistant Superintendent, and finally Superintendent of the Chertsey Division, eventually  moving to HQ  as Assistant Chief.   

Bedfords were  chosen as the  vehicle to be used for ambulance work.  This was because of a criterion laid down by the ministry on certain aspects concerning the design of future ambulances.  Other than have  a purpose built vehicle, which had been ruled out after the failure of the Dennis, the only production vehicle available at the time  that was suitable was the Bedfords CF, with either a Hanlon or Wadhams body.  It was to meet the needs of the service for a good many years.    

Looking back it is  difficult to date the changes that had been  introduced to ambulances, as in most cases this was done on a gradual basis, and it was very often the little changes that were the  most important. Like having a communicating door between the cab and saloon of the ambulances, a simple fixing for a drip bottle or bag, terminals to attach premature baby cots, piped oxygen, cervical collars, burns sheets, all things that were soon taken for granted.    Other items just evolved like  wooden splints which were gradually replaced by plastic blow up splints, and a light weight aluminium stretcher to replace the old fashioned wood and canvas furley stretchers.

The new training school began to flourish during the 70's,  with both day and residential courses being introduced.  All new  recruits were now expected to attend a 6 week residential course,  and the school also took  personnel from other Counties.

Students  attending residential courses were lodged at the nearby Henderson Hospital.  Personnel from the Surrey Service attending refresher courses were still able to attend on a daily basis.   A driving school had also been established and all personnel engaged on driving ambulances were expected to eventually take a two week advanced driving course.

Don Parsons first driving Instructor with student

However there was a paradox to all this, Whilst the personnel were on the whole a happy bunch willing to accept new procedures and equipment, and to serve  wherever needed, on the other hand  there was an underlying dissatisfaction that their repeated call for a change of status, and introduction of new techniques and equipment,  was not proceeding fast enough.  

Unfortunately this was a matter only the government could solve, and the service was to see various forms of militant action from the crews over a good many years to come.  Whatever problems the service encountered, one thing  was sure, the staff were always there when the crunch came, And in the 1970's it was needed to deal with major incidents on several occasions..
  
1972 a BEA Trident, crashed in a field at Staines minutes after take off.

Two bombs planted by the IRA exploded at Guildford in October 1974 , the first at The Horse and Groom Public House in North Street. Hardly had that been cleared when another exploded at the Seven Stars in Swan Lane.   Some seventy patients were cleared from the scenes together with twelve bodies
.  
Another bomb the following  year at Caterham, this time, fortunately only 12 patients
.  
A fire at Hollaway Sanatorium Virginia Water in 1978, a Psychiatric Hospital, entailed the evacuation of Sixty two patients.

In 1979 a train crash at Thames Ditton, and although there were only 7 patients, it gave some indication of the service's efficiency, for the first ambulance was on the scene within 3 minutes, quickly followed by 30 others and two control units.

Defibrillator to the training school in 1976.  Unfortunately  new equipment of this kind, although perfect for demonstration purposes Probably one of the most significant developments happened in the  mid 70’s, it started with the donation of a Cardiac, could not be used on the Ambulances  without the  Ministry of Health's approval, much to the frustration of the personnel.  But this was not the only problem , the cost of added equipment and training  was something the service could not afford at the time.  However in 1977 the Reigate Rotary  Club, spurred on by a local GP  Dr Alan Ingram,  raised enough money to send 5 officers on a training course at Brighton, and buy two cardiac defibrillators, which alone cost £5,000 each at the time.  The fruition came in 1978 when two vehicles were equipped as cardiac vehicles at Redhill.     This set off a countywide effort to raise enough money to train and equip ambulances with cardiac equipment.

 This in itself was causing problems, not only in Surrey  but in the country as a whole,  for staff were calling for better training and a recognition of their status from the powers to be, and although they were sure the general public realised their worth, there was a feeling of being The Cinderella Service as far as the Government was concerned.  The culmination of this came in 1979, when the unions called on the Ambulance Service to strike, and although one or two stations in Surrey responded, most decided just to take some minimal form of industrial action.  To compound this, there was an acute shortage of staff, so much so that to keep up the standards of the service private firms were engaged to help with the transportation of outpatients, so that the service could maintain its high emergency standards.

 So the decade ended on a sour note,  but it also had lots to be proud of. It had come a long way from the fragmented service started in 1948, it was now a unified, full time service, with Headquarters housed at Banstead, along  with a  Regional Training School,  Central Stores, and a Central Control Room, which controlled, by teleprinter and radio, throughout the county a fleet of well maintained  vehicles, and well trained staff

     1980
                            Trident crash 1972

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/5/newsid_2492000/2492543.stm

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/june/18/newsid_3001000/3001756.stm

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