Prospective MPs back ambulance campaign (From Worcester News)

Prospective MPs back ambulance campaign

8:57am Saturday 11th August 2007 in

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A CAMPAIGN to save Worcester's under-threat ambulance control centre is being backed by two of the county's Parliamentary candidates.

Liberal Democrat Richard Burt and Conservative Harriett Baldwin, Parliamentary candidates for West Worcestershire, have both added their names to the Worcester News petition to save the Bransford centre. So far more than 1,600 people have signed the petition.

Both candidates have visited the Emergency Operations Centre recently to offer their help and support to staff.

"We have nine weeks to save our local ambulance call centre and prevent what would amount to a real and detrimental cut to the emergency care of local people," said Mr Burt.

"As someone who worked in an emergency services cover, I can appreciate the importance of keeping a dedicated local team with local knowledge for Worcestershire and Herefordshire."

Mrs Baldwin said: "I was told that local knowledge would be preserved by having a Hereford and Worcester sub-team in Brierley Hill. This is contradictory and unsustainable. Clearly, those local skills are likely to be lost over time as Hereford and Worcester-based staff will face a much longer commute to the other centres, and gradually the staff will be recruited elsewhere."

West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust wants to close the Bransford centre, along with one at Shrewsbury, and create two regional centres at Brierley Hill and Stafford. There would also be a support centre at Leamington Spa.

It insists the move will create a more resilient service for patients and said local knowledge would be maintained. The trust has also urged people to read the consultation document before making a decision.

Trust chief executive Anthony Marsh said: "We would ask people to read the document and then make up their minds about what is contained within it and not be misled by scaremongering comments about lives being put in danger. This trust will not do anything that will put patients' lives at risk - we are in the business of saving lives."

The trust says that by increasing the number of centres under the new technology being introduced at the regional control centres, it would lead to a less resilient service.

To sign the Worcester News petition complete the onlinepetition.