Organisers behind the non-political community campaign to Save the Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) in Monmouth have confirmed they are continuing the fight despite the insistence from the Welsh Ambulance service trust (WAST) CEO Jason Killens that it is the best interest of the area to remove it.

A petition in the town in May which collected over 3,000 signatures was presented to the Senedd Petitions Committee along with extensive data analysis outlining the real and present danger to the community if the vehicle was to be removed. Senedd members agreed to write to Mr Killens in view of the fact “the Minister for Health and Social Services appears to have washed her hands of the matter” but have yet to receive a response. The organisers – Terry Kirton and Lorraine Allman – did meet with Mr Killens after the petition was presented, but have only recently received a detailed response to all their questions.

The key arguments by the campaigners are as follows: Mr Killens has confirmed that the modelling exercise which uses health board rather than local data, indicates that the vehicle should be removed from Monmouth, yet not taking into account local data such as population demographics -the number of 75–79-year-olds is expected to increase by 40 per cent, and the number of 80–84-year-olds to increase by 31 per cent - as well as the county having the third highest levels of Atrial Fibrillation in Gwent, and second highest levels of cancer in Gwent is incomprehensible.

Lorraine explained: “Mr Killens further cites a ‘low level’ of red calls in the area as the core reason for removing the RRV, showing in 2021 that there were 38 days with no red calls, however it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to calculate that with 365 days in a year that leaves 327 days (90 per cent of the time) where there was at least one red call in the area. In fact, the data shows 153 days during the year where between 3 and 5 red calls were received, and over 20 days receiving between 6 and 9 red calls. What happens on the 327 days in the year where one or more red calls are received, and the one ambulance is the other side of the County, with no rapid response to quickly assess and as a minimum administer emergency aid? The proposal is to significantly reduce the RRV (now known as CHARU) hours for ABUHB from 2,091 to 826, and the hours of Unscheduled Care Service in Monmouth to zero. We therefore have to ask how on earth they are going to meet the response times and keep our community safe with this level of reduction. This is a rural Neighbourhood Care Network area ten times the size of Newport City, with nearly half the population living in rural or semi-rural areas.

She added: “We have consistently shown Mr Killens the data from WAST indicating that 48 per cent of RRV incidents attended in the area have not required a follow-on visit to hospital. This releases an Emergency Ambulance to attend incidents elsewhere and further reduces the need for a handover at A&E - an area Mr Killens himself has said is a priority with the Trust having lost 23,832 hours in April 2022 alone, yet he will not acknowledge the fact that the RRV has a crucial part to play in reducing the onward visits to hospital, despite the fact that on two separate occasions the WAST Annual Performance Report 2020/21 states that the decision to prioritise Emergency Ambulances over RRVs was one of the key reasons for a negative impact on response times”.

She believes the date used is fundamentally flawed and it’s imperative they look again and undertake the modelling using the local data campaigners have provided (drawn from ABUHB, QAIF, ONS, and WAST), which she believes will show a clear case to retain the RRV here in Monmouth.

Community organisers are currently preparing a written response back to Mr Killens, and have already accepted his invitation to visit the clinical contact centre in Cwmbran.