MP supports ambulance merger

The merger of ambulance control centres would provide a better service for people in north Worcestershire, the Wyre Forest MP has claimed.

Dr Richard Taylor said it would be better to have a control centre where staff had an overview of all ambulance movements in the area, not only those in Worcestershire.

It would enable them to reach locations on the border with the West Midlands more quickly. He was speaking about proposals which would leave two large regional centres, in Brierley Hill and Stafford, and a smaller support centre in Leamington Spa.

This would mean that a centre in Bransford, near Worcester, and another in Shrewsbury would close.

Dr Taylor said it would be uneconomic to continue the centres at Bransford and Shrewsbury. "I think it would be better for the whole county if we do go along with this merger."

But his comments have upset Mid-Worcestershire Conservative MP Peter Luff who is opposing the merger.

He has called for "unity in defending the county's health service" and said he was "disappointed" by Independent MP Dr Taylor's stand. Mr Luff believes local knowledge is essential for answering quick response calls and that this will be lost with a move to centralise the service at Brierley Hill, Stafford and Leamington.

He said: "Technology is fallible. Only when it's backed up by local knowledge can it be deemed a winning formula.

"We have seen two successive incidents of emergency call-outs to the Severn Side caravan park just outside Stourport.

"On the first occasion, sat-nav sent the ambulance to the wrong side of the Severn, a six or seven mile round trip, and 40-odd minutes of suffering, to get to a casualty. The ambulance trust assured local people that the problem was sorted but six months later, and the very next call-out to the same site, the identical problem happened.

"Given the large number of villages in rural Worcestershire with similar or even identical names, I remain convinced that people will not have the level of service necessary to guarantee their welfare in the event of the transfer from Bransford to Brierley Hill."

Dr Taylor said: "I think it is a bit rich to call for unity when no-one backed us when Kidderminster Hospital was downgraded. We were laid out to dry".