THE headline, "79 minutes," highlighting the wait for an ambulance of an injured lady in Crown Lane Horwich, will have distressed many, not least members of the North-west Ambulance Service.

When Government releases performance tables the North-west Ambulance Service is never out of the top three places for effective attention to the needs of the public. I am confident we can rule out incompetence or a lack of compassion as reasons for the late attendance of an ambulance on Thursday evening. The ambulance service, as its spokesperson admitted, is under intense pressure. The causes are complex. Lack of resources is, of course, one, but there are others. A significant delay can be caused at A and E departments. Numbers of ambulances are forced to wait in queues at hospitals because nurses and doctors are unavailable to deal with patients being delivered for care.

There are increasing numbers of frail and very poorly elderly people. However, a further and vexed factor is our behaviour. The service's spokesperson mentioned the pressure caused by Bonfire Night. Reading that, we might assume ambulance operatives have been dealing with firework injuries. In reality, it means adult injuries, often caused by alcohol. It is not insignificant to note that New Year's Eve is the busiest night for the service. Halloween, Bonfire Night, a big football event, are occasions when the service reliably predicts high demand. We ought to expect the government to resource the NHS and specifically the ambulance service generously so that bottlenecks at hospitals can be addressed but we must also understand that our behaviour has consequences. In particular we must confront the abusive relationship too many have with alcohol.

Cllr Kevin McKeon

Horwich North-east