YP Letters: Is a tick-box culture to blame for 999 delays?

Ambulance cover in North Yorkshire remains a source of concern.

YOUR article “Mother  waited in vain for ambulance” (The Yorkshire Post, June 3) prompts me to raise two  issues.

The first is that ambulances are often kept waiting for hours at hospitals before they are allowed to discharge their patients.

If A&E are not ready to take them, surely some responsible person could get notes on the patient’s condition from the paramedics and let the ambulance get back on the road?

I suspect the waiting procedure is part of the box-ticking culture.

The other point relates to the effectiveness of the 999 call centre arrangements. I was cycling with a group recently when one of our number suffered a severe cardiac arrest.

A passing HGV driver stopped immediately and was heard explaining clearly where he was, on the A684 about two miles west of Leyburn and just west of Wensley Bridge. After several attempts to get this simple message through he was heard to say in exasperated tones: “What do you mean, it’s not on your map?”

I understand there is supposed to be some system which picks up the phone signal and identifies the location, but it did not work on this occasion.