Health Committee at the GLA. Together with the Association of London Government, we are holding a pan-London scrutiny of the Ambulance Service.

Today was meant to be listening to the ‘patients’ voice’. Sadly – we barely heard it. Don’t know if it was a cock-up or what – but the main witness was the chair of the newly convened Ambulance Patient Forum and the questions were all to do with structure.

It was glaringly obvious that this new body hasn’t yet sorted itself out at all to think strategically about how it can represent patients – and moreover has no resource to do so even when it has. Their first four areas they wish to look at are all but one areas already looked at by everyone: 999 calls and so on.

At the same time, there were reps there from Age Concern and others who made it really clear that the most vital area for flagging up is the way patients are transported to hospital and the complete and utter mess this is in and that it needs sorting. Patients who need transport services sometimes have to wait hours to get to hospital and often miss their appointments because of poor arrangements.

I think patients will be in trouble if the new body continues not to listen to the patients it is set up to represent.