By Sophie Goodchild
The Evening Standard
LONDON — Paramedics on bicycles have saved the NHS more than a million pounds. Figures from the London Ambulance Service reveal the special cycle crews, set up to respond to 999 calls in heavy traffic, have created savings including £300,000 in fuel — the equivalent of 20,000 ambulance journeys.
These super-fit paramedics cover an average of 25 miles a day, seven days a week.
Patients are also getting help more quickly through the Cycle Response Unit which accesses pedestrianised areas of the capital which ambulances cannot reach. The average response time is now five minutes but can be as short as just 60 seconds.
The LAS is now extending the 100-strong “ambulance on a bike” team with a new unit at Islington. The eight existing teams already cover areas including City of London, Kensington, Canary Wharf and Heathrow Airport and major outdoor events.
Tom Lynch MBE, London’s first cycling paramedic and the scheme’s founder, said more patients were receiving care more quickly because the cycle paramedics free up ambulances for emergency cases.
The former British BMX champion, now manager of the Cycle Response Unit, said: “What started out as an idea to reach patients faster in central London traffic is now attending thousands of 999 emergency calls a year. The basic purpose of cycle responders remains the same: getting life-saving care to patients as quickly as possible.”
The cycle responders have treated 50,000 patients since they were first piloted 10 years ago and freed up an estimated 5,000 ambulance hours a year, the equivalent of having an extra two vehicles staffed with two paramedics.
Each paramedic has an aluminium-frame Specialised Rockhopper bicycle with bullet- and puncture-proof tyres, carrying the same essential life-saving equipment as normal ambulances — apart from a stretcher.
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