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Lib Dem president meets ambulance staff

6:53am Saturday 1st September 2007

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THE president of the Liberal Democrat party was due to visit Worcester today to speak to staff at the closure-threatened ambulance control centre.

Simon Hughes MP will be joined by the party's West Worcestershire Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt, in a visit to Bransford Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

He will meet staff and supporters with placards outside the centre and then be invited inside for discussions.

Mr Burt and staff at the centre have submitted an alternative proposal to West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which involves the retention of both Bransford and Shrewsbury EOCs.

They say better links between the five call centres through a more integrated computer system could create a virtual control room, preventing closures.

The trust began a 13-week consultation on closing the centres on July 2. The proposal involves closing the two emergency operations centres and creating two regional control centres in Brierley Hill and Stafford, and a support centre at Leamington.

The five centres use different systems for dispatching ambulances, meaning, at present, there are no links between them.

The Worcester News has been campaigning to save the emergency operations centre at Bransford on the grounds that local knowledge would be lost if it closed.

We say this would create a situation where call handlers would have limited knowledge of local geography and would break up local teams. More than 1,600 people have signed our petition.

A spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: "The trust has stated it believes the proposals that we're consulting on are the best way of enhancing patient care in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and the rest of the region."

Sign the Worcester News petition on this site.

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Beepey, Malvern says...
2:05am Sun 2 Sep 07

Sir Graham Meldrum openly admitted in public at Hereford recently that rural communities would be left at a disadvantage under the WMAS Board proposal. Hereford and Worcester are largely rural communities.
None of this is about improved service, it’s about cost cutting. Day after day we are treated in the news to the promise of more service cutbacks throughout the NHS.
Quite how much ‘consulting’ the Trust Board is prepared to do is still yet to be seen. Right now they seem hell-bent on ignoring public opinion and implementing this proposal whatever the cost, all evidence points to the decision having been already made.
The NHS senior administration has totally lost the plot, they’ve forgotten they are in existence to provide services to the public and instead are operating like a clandestine organisation who answers to no one.
Finally, after stalling for two and a half years, the NHS has been ordered to release papers regarding it’s National Programme for IT under the Freedom of Information Act.
By the time this Board releases details of how it prepared this proposal, the damage will already be done.

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Beepey, Malvern says...
2:05am Sun 2 Sep 07

Sir Graham Meldrum openly admitted in public at Hereford recently that rural communities would be left at a disadvantage under the WMAS Board proposal. Hereford and Worcester are largely rural communities.
None of this is about improved service, itÂ’s about cost cutting. Day after day we are treated in the news to the promise of more service cutbacks throughout the NHS.
Quite how much ‘consulting’ the Trust Board is prepared to do is still yet to be seen. Right now they seem hell-bent on ignoring public opinion and implementing this proposal whatever the cost, all evidence points to the decision having been already made.
The NHS senior administration has totally lost the plot, theyÂ’ve forgotten they are in existence to provide services to the public and instead are operating like a clandestine organisation who answers to no one.
Finally, after stalling for two and a half years, the NHS has been ordered to release papers regarding itÂ’s National Programme for IT under the Freedom of Information Act.
By the time this Board releases details of how it prepared this proposal, the damage will already be done.

Report this post »

bransford007, worcester says...
1:59pm Sun 2 Sep 07

It was also stated in the Hereford Times, after Hereford and Worcester merged with Shropshire as one locality, that rural communties differ in the type of emergency cover needed compared to urban areas. WMAS stated that rural communties have special needs that must be catered for. As this is the case, then why are these very counties losing their control rooms only to be served by 'urban controls'? The answer is monetary!

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bransford007, worcester says...
1:59pm Sun 2 Sep 07

It was also stated in the Hereford Times, after Hereford and Worcester merged with Shropshire as one locality, that rural communties differ in the type of emergency cover needed compared to urban areas. WMAS stated that rural communties have special needs that must be catered for. As this is the case, then why are these very counties losing their control rooms only to be served by 'urban controls'? The answer is monetary!

Report this post »

liz kabani, h + w says...
12:36pm Thu 6 Sep 07

If the Board said " it believes the proposal that its consulting on is the best way of meeting government set targets (including financial ones) in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and the rest of the region," no-one would disagree. The West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust Board proposal is guaranteed to ensure government set targets are met every day, every week, every month. Birmingham Black Country patients will receive a better standard of patient care - more ambulances in the area, faster call answering than now - but it will be at the expense of the population of the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. Expense in the sense that it'll be Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire taxpayers who fund this better service, whilst getting a reduced level of emergency care for themselves. This is not scaremongering, a comment made by a WMAS Trust Board member. It is a fact admitted by the very same Trust Board member at a public meeting in Hereford last month. If you feel a different approch to the one proposed by WMAS Tust Board is required, log on to www.saveyoureoc.co.u
k, read the alternative proposal and email or write to the Trust Board with your views or alternative proposals of your own at the addresses given on the website.

Report this post »

liz kabani, h + w says...
12:36pm Thu 6 Sep 07

If the Board said " it believes the proposal that its consulting on is the best way of meeting government set targets (including financial ones) in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and the rest of the region," no-one would disagree. The West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust Board proposal is guaranteed to ensure government set targets are met every day, every week, every month. Birmingham Black Country patients will receive a better standard of patient care - more ambulances in the area, faster call answering than now - but it will be at the expense of the population of the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. Expense in the sense that it'll be Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire taxpayers who fund this better service, whilst getting a reduced level of emergency care for themselves. This is not scaremongering, a comment made by a WMAS Trust Board member. It is a fact admitted by the very same Trust Board member at a public meeting in Hereford last month. If you feel a different approch to the one proposed by WMAS Tust Board is required, log on to www.saveyoureoc.co.u
k, read the alternative proposal and email or write to the Trust Board with your views or alternative proposals of your own at the addresses given on the website.

Report this post »

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