Patients' lives at risk during 2012 Olympics as ambulances 'banned' from using fast lane reserved for VIPs

[richard]

Ambulances carrying sick & vulnerable will be left stranded in traffic jams during the 2012 Olympics while dignitaries beat congestion with 'Games lanes' reserved for VIPs

Organisers for the London 2012 Games rejected a request from NHS London to let ambulances use the new fast lanes and have now been accused of risking patients' lives.

The lanes, which will be implemented across 39 miles of road in central London, will allow 80,000 accredited members of the ‘Olympic family’, including athletes, officials and sponsors to by-pass congestion on the busy roads.

Meanwhile ambulances will only be allowed in the lanes if they have their blue lights on.

Blue lights can only be switched on by those specifically trained to do so and are only used in genuine emergencies and Leah Bevington, head of communications at Medical Services said this was totally unacceptable.

Speaking to The Observer she said 'This means that sick people, often elderly and frail, urgent blood supplies and oxygen will all be made to wait in traffic with the rest of us.

'Congestion can be bad enough around London on a regular day so you can imagine that we are concerned that patients will be on a vehicle for much longer periods of time.

'As much as the NHS and everyone else is trying to run business as usual, without some help it won't happen.'

The £25m Olympic Route Network (ORN) will be operational for 17 days of the event, covering the fortnight-long competitive period and a number of days before and after.

The Paralympics will also result in restrictions but they will cover a much shorter period.

Last week undercover investigations by Channel 4's Dispatches revealed that rich businessmen were being offered the chance to ‘buy’ access to the VIP road lanes for £20,000 a head.

Companies including High Street travel chain Thomas Cook stand accused of violating Olympic rules by secretly including use of the fast-track routes in corporate packages.

Reporters were offered a Thomas Cook package priced at £450,709 for a group of 23.

The week-long deal included tickets for the men’s 100 metres athletics finals, six nights at the five-star Athenaeum hotel in Mayfair – and access to the lanes.

In the programme, shown last week, Pete Moore, who described himself as the company’s Head of Olympic Trip Packages, says corporate purchasers could use the road lanes by putting accreditation signs on the front of their dedicated ‘luxury coaches’.

Thomas Cook said Mr Moore was not an employee and worked for iLUKA, a ticketing company that has formed a partnership with Thomas Cook for the Olympics.


Source
By David Baker
www.dailymail.co.uk