A third of the Community First Responders in the Swansea Bay area have been lost

Regional MS Suzy Davies is to contact the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) after hearing that a third of the Community First Responders in the Swansea Bay area have been lost. 

Members of the Swansea Bay Community Health Council were told by Jeff Morris from WAST that 32 per cent of the First Responders locally are no longer operational since the start of the Covid pandemic. Some were shielding and could not go out on calls, some had accepted full time employment with WAST and others had decided to step down altogether. 

Welsh Conservative  Suzy said: “I am alarmed by this news. I know first-hand of the wonderful work done by First Responders throughout the Swansea area but particularly in Gower.  

“It is difficult for front line ambulances to respond to emergencies like heart attacks speedily because of the distances that they have to travel often down country lanes to reach villages at the bottom end of Gower. That’s where the community First Responders come into their own. They live locally and can be scrambled much faster.  

“The Reynoldston Co-Responders team team, based at the Fire Station, is a superb example of how this system was working. 

“I will be writing to WAST to urge them to recruit and train new members for this team as soon as they are able. I know that these are difficult times but people’s lives are at stake here. This is a valuable service which literally makes the difference between life and death and it must be rebuilt as speedily as possible.”