Having worked in the Ambulance Service (albeit not in the Midlands), I think people should look at this generally as an opportunity for improvement.

At least as long as it’s implemented properly – and that’s where some Services have fallen down!

The fact is that *some* of the stations in the West Midlands (and that includes Hereford and Worcester, Shropshire and the rest of its area) are now poorly sited and in some cases barely fit for purpose. This is the legacy of having been built – in many cases – several years ago. Towns tend to have expanded since then, with new road networks, housing estates etc. Meeting response times can be a challenge because of this (and meeting them is hard enough as it is). New roads and by-passes for instance can be used to advantage and some Ambulance Stations are currently not well sited to access them.

In theory, crews reporting to a central point will collect their vehicle and already find it cleaned and fully operational. It should have been restocked, checked to ensure it is mechanically sound (no worn tyres, lights not working etc)and ready to go immediately at the start of the shift. Currently all this is usually done by oncoming crews who are not available to respond UNTIL this has been done. Under the plans, dedicated staff will relieve paramedics and technicians of these chores and the medical staff can concentrate on doing what they are there for – medical response. All they should have to do is log themselves available to Ambulance Control via their radio system.

After that, vehicles and staff will no doubt be deployed to all the areas where there are currently stations (and probably to additional standby points as well, hopefully enhancing respoonse times).

Of course the devil is always in the detail but if this is implemented carefully and in full consultation with staff (ay, there’s the rub…!) this should improve the overall standard of service.

It will need to be carefully coordinated of course – you can’t have fleets of ambulance crews all heading in to a central depot to finish work at the same time (and likewise at the start of shifts, you can’t have no-one available while everyone is fetching their vehicles ready to commence duty….!)

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These changes are nothing more than a cost cutting and economy exercise being dressed up and sold to the public under the “becoming more patient focused” banner.

The one size fits all approach is not always the best, we hear that this system already works well in staffordshire but management saying it works well simply means it’s costs are reduced the real cost is being paid by the staff ?

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