Calls centre should open in spring

Ambulance chiefs will open the new regional emergency calls centre in Stafford in the spring, it has been revealed.

Call centre staff should move from their current base, in Stone Road, to the new site in Beaconside in March or April.

West Midlands Ambulance Service is in the process of completing the brand new Emergency Operations Centre at Tollgate Business Park, as part of a £2.5 million shake-up of the service.

The call centre will house 85 seats, 10 of which will be for training, plus a major incident room. It will be similar to the existing base at Brierley Hill, boasting the most up-to-date equipment and technology. It will replace the current Stafford base in Stone Road. Some departments have already moved to the new site, including the human resources team.

The new centre, together with the control room in Brierley Hill and a satellite centre in Leamington Spa, will replace the previous five control rooms across the West Midlands.

Ambulance chiefs say the move will create more jobs and improve the service, but some staff feel the service will suffer due to a lack of local knowledge. The overall number of call centre staff is to increase from 62 to 110.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman Suzie Fothergill said: "There is still work being carried out on the Tollgate call centre facility.

"But it is anticipated that the centre will be completed very soon and it is hoped that the move will take place in March or April.

"Some of the many advantages to the new call centre will be the integrated call handling capability.

"Should any one of our three call centres be dealing with a rise in demand, 999 calls will automatically be routed to the two other centres.

"This will ensure that all calls are dealt with as quickly as possible, something that is vital in cases such as cardiac arrests."

She said the trust would also be introducing one system across the call centres for dispatching ambulances.

"Although vehicles will continue to be dispatched by the nearest call centre, all three will have the ability to despatch vehicles anywhere in the region," she said.

"This means that, should any one centre suffer a a catastrophic failure such as a fire, there would be no interruption in service."

The £2.5 million, cost of the shake-up of emergency operations centres in the region will be met by the sale of the current facility in Stone Road, the old calls centre in Bransford, near Worcester, and part of a site at Shrewsbury.