Make reckless drinkers pay 999 cost, says Tory leader hopeful

People who need ambulances due to "irresponsible drinking" should pay the cost of the call-out, a Welsh Tory assembly leadership candidate has said.

South Wales West AM Suzy Davies made the proposal in a speech in Bridgend on Monday to launch her campaign.

She told BBC Wales those found at fault in a car crash can already be made to pay the emergency services' costs.

But the Welsh Ambulance Service warned any "charge-back initiative" would be "extremely challenging to administer".

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Ms Davies, who is competing with Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies to lead the Conservative group in Cardiff Bay, said: "We can all exercise personal responsibility appropriate to our circumstances.

"It's why I say people that take up the valuable time of our ambulance service through their own irresponsible drinking should be charged for that call-out."

Ms Davies's campaign team said recent figures put the average cost of an ambulance call-out at £155.

Asked if there was a danger of legal challenges from people who object to having to pay, Ms Davies said: "I'm wondering if they would really do that for the sake of a hundred pounds or so.

"Don't forget we would need to sort out the detail of this with the actual ambulance service themselves.

"This is about the principle of this. If you want good public services treat them well, use them well and then there'll be more time available for people who really need to use them."

The Welsh Ambulance Service attends more than 250,000 emergency calls a year

Ms Davies added: "We are not talking about people with an alcohol-dependency question. We are just talking about people who could have stopped getting that drunk and didn't."

Welsh Ambulance Director of Operations Richard Lee said its service was "free 'at point of need' to all patients, based entirely on their medical emergency, and not the cause of it".

"Evidence from other NHS experiences suggests that any charge-back initiative would be extremely challenging to administer, while defining 'irresponsible' behaviour that may result in a person facing an unexpected medical emergency, is equally problematic," he said.

"Our ongoing focus remains managing 'frequent caller work' and working with other organisations and agencies to educate and encourage people around responsible and appropriate use of the 999 emergency callout services."

A Welsh Government spokesman added: "We expect people to use the health service responsibly, including taking responsibility for their own health, but any suggestion that could lead to people being priced out of the urgent medical attention they need is callous, short-sighted and cuts across the principles on which the NHS was founded."

'Mojo'

On her party's prospects, Ms Davies said the Welsh Conservatives needed to "rediscover its mojo" adding: "We've been talking Brexit, Brexit, Brexit for it seems like forever.

"We need to remember that Wales, and in fact the Welsh Conservatives, there's more to us than just Brexit.

"We've lost sight of what we were talking about before this dominated our conversation."

The leadership contest was triggered by the resignation in June of Andrew RT Davies, who believed he had lost the support of his colleagues.

Paul Davies, who is serving as interim leader, launched his bid for the post last week.