CONTROL room staff at Worcestershire's threatened ambulance call centre are among the best in the country, according to the latest figures.

Despite plans by West Midlands Ambulance Trust to close two control centres, including the one in Bransford, near Worcester, new figures show the service is among the top performing in the country.

Figures from the National Statistics Information Centre show the trust was one of only two regional services that exceeded all three of its key performance indicators for the year 2006-07.

The news comes just days after the trust announced it was looking to close the emergency operations call centres at Bransford and Shrewsbury and replace them with regional centres in Stafford and Brierley Hill.

Control manager at Bransford Melissa Price said: "We are performing extremely well as we are these figures prove, which just goes to show that they should not close Bransford."

The Worcester News has so far received more than 100 signatures on its petition to save the Bransford call centre.

The latest figures show the ambulance trust has received a significant increase in demand over previous years, with 999 calls rising by 5.8 per cent to 541,500 a year.

However, the trust has continued to exceed targets for the time taken to answer emergency calls. It is now answering 75.4 per cent of category A calls, which are those that are life-threatening, within eight minutes, and 98.6 per cent within 19 minutes. Category B calls, which are those that are serious but not life-threatening, are being answered within 19 minutes 95.3 per cent of the time.

Trust chairman Sir Graham Meldrum said: "This is a superb performance and recognises the tremendous level of work that the staff have been and are continuing to carry out.

"When the trust came together on July 1, 2006, there were real areas of excellence, but also problems that needed to be addressed urgently. Through strong management and tremendous support from staff, the corner was turned and the results are there for everyone to see."

Chief executive Anthony Marsh said: "I would like to add my personal thanks to each and every member of staff in the organisation for this wonderful result."

He added: "We cannot be complacent as there are still many challenges that need to be faced and solutions found but I am absolutely confident that with the team we have here we will create world-class emergency services for the people of the region. The people of the West Midlands should be proud of their ambulance service; I know I am."

The other regional service to exceed all three targets was North East Ambulance Service.

To add your name to our petition fill in the coupon below or log on to our website www.worcesternews.co.uk l People are encouraged to send their comments on the proposals to close the Bransford centre to the trust's board at consultation@ wmas.nhs.uk