You say no to ambulance merger plan

10:06am Monday 21st January 2002

THE suggested merger of the local ambulance service, Two Shires Ambulance Trust, with others to form a mega-service for Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire is not going ahead.

When the public were asked what they thought about the merger, they said they did not want it, said health minister Hazel Blear. So it is not happening.

Under a merger there would have been three ambulance services in south east England instead of the present seven.

"We have taken on board the views of local people. This was a real consultation exercise: plans have been changed as a result of the views of local people," announced the minister.

However Ms Blear said she wanted to see the ambulance service modernised, with people getting the best treatment in the quickest time.

Ambulance services have a target of getting to 75 per cent of calls involving life-threatening issues within eight minutes.

And money has been put into the service to help do that. The minister said there was £3.4 million available so that all the 3,000 emergency ambulances in England could be fitted with state-of-the art tracking and satellite navigation systems by the end of March.

"This should speed up response times," said a Department Of Health spokesman.