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THE Healthcare Commission says the Great Western Ambulance Service has made improvements after it took 42 minutes for an ambulance to reach a road accident victim who subsequently died.

The accident happened in Cirencester at 11.15pm on May 25 2007 and the victim was Rebecca Wedd, a 23-year-old student at the Royal Agricultural College in the town.

The Healthcare Commission intervened to review both the management arrangements that were in place at the time of the accident and subsequent changes made by GWAS, which covers Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Avon.

An ambulance should have reached Miss Wedd within eight minutes but it took 42 minutes for one to arrive.

The commission's report says that there was no ambulance in Cirencester on the night of the accident because a crew was absent due to sick leave.

An ambulance was also unavailable due to a vehicle defect and the crew could not respond until they had changed vehicles 20 minutes later. Four ambulances were at other incidents. The Wiltshire Air Ambulance flew Miss Wedd to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol but she died the following day.

The commission said GWAS had responded to concerns and made improvements to its service.

It said changes such as the introduction of a new ambulance dispatch system, a centralised control room system and a review of its vehicle fleet had contributed to reducing the risk of this incident recurring. However, it has issued five recommendations to continue progress, including staff having mandatory training.

5:29pm Thursday 21st August 2008

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