Last week’s High Court ruling that the Hatzola ambulance service cannot use blue lights when responding to emergencies was one of those judgments that even the court would rather not have made. But the law is the law, however wrong it may be. Mr Justice Jay said that he gave his ruling “with regret” and recommended that “a new a form of words which includes Hatzola personnel” should be introduced.
That has not happened yet — it has, after all, only been a week — but it does seem that common sense is about to prevail. With a response time of up to 120 seconds, as opposed to the NHS’s target of 8 minutes, there is no doubt that the community-funded service makes a vital contribution. So it is refreshing to be able to report that pretty much everyone agrees that the regulations set down nearly 4 decades ago need updating. The government has already said that it wants to change the law, with both the Department of Health and Department for Transport now working on the details. The court case may have been an unwelcome setback to Hatzola but it now looks as if it will emerge even stronger.
