Murray MacGregor – Tuesday 9th August 2022 – 12.10pm.
And with one final roar from Birmingham’s Raging Bull, it was all over, but what an amazing 11 days it has been.
A spectacular closing ceremony at the Alexander Stadium brought the curtain down on Birmingham 2022, the 22nd Commonwealth Games. It was the biggest ever with around 1.5 million spectators, getting to see some spectacular sport.
For West Midlands Ambulance Service, it was the biggest sporting event that we have ever had to provide medical cover for, working with the medical teams put in place by the Organising Committee.
In total, we scheduled over 23,000 hours of ambulance time including 1,766 shifts made up of 770 on ambulances and 226 commander shifts. They were supported by 160 shifts in our control room, 60 vehicle preparation operative shifts preparing up to 60 ambulances and 27 cars each day and 40 shifts in the National Ambulance Resilience Unit.
For the ambulance service, we were only called on to help 166 patients of which just 83 were taken to hospital.
Trust Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, said: “This has been a hugely successful event that has placed Birmingham and the wider West Midlands in the spotlight for all of the right reasons. My congratulations to the Organising Committee for putting on such a well run event.
“I want to pay tribute to the hundreds of staff who gave up their time off with their families to come and work during the Games. You have done an amazing job helping to keep the huge crowds safe.
“I am immensely proud of everything you have done to show what a wonderful city Birmingham is and indeed the wider West Midlands and what it has to offer.
“You have interacted with the public and the Games family on a daily basis and shown what a fantastic career the ambulance service has to offer and for that I am immensely grateful.”
A gallery of pictures taken by staff at the Games can be found at https://wmas.nhs.uk/birmingham-2022/
Head of Emergency Planning and Commonwealth Games Lead for the Trust, James Williams, added: “What an incredible couple of weeks it’s been for the region. I want to say a huge ‘thank you’, to everyone in the Trust who has been involved for making the Games as successful as it has been. It’s been wonderful to see the whole Trust getting behind the event and helping colleagues out wherever they can.
“It’s been a real morale booster for staff, not just the crews out at venues but all the backroom staff as well. Can I also say thank you to the planning team – we started this journey as soon as Birmingham was awarded the Games in December 2017 and that really stepped up a gear in early 2021. It has been quite a journey but so worth it. All that effort has delivered a magnificent event, one which we can all be proud of.”
Ends
