Harriett Baldwin spoke of her anger today about the closure of the Hereford and Worcester ambulance call centre, decided at a meeting today by Sir Graham Meldrum, Chairman of the West Midlands Ambulance Service Board and the other board members.

The Board also agreed to close Shrewsbury.

All local ambulance 999 calls will now go through to a call centre at Brierley Hill in the Black Country, Stafford or Leamington Spa.

The Board did agree to amend the proposal to phase the closures and to monitor the movement of ambulances out of rural areas and into urban areas.

Harriett Baldwin explained, "I spoke out at the meeting because I wanted to be sure that the Board appreciated the strength of feeling that exists against the closure of Bransford in West Worcestershire. 999 calls are literally a matter of life or death. I also wanted to put on record the frustration that Sir Michael Spicer and I have felt trying to get accurate financial figures to put in our alternative proposal, and our concerns that the Trust's own figures have been fudged. I also asked Sir Graham Meldrum to acknowledge that he has received the hundreds of letters from constituents that we have sent to him, which he duly did.

The Board can be sure that we will be continuing to hold them to account and we will be monitoring response times for constituents as well as the availability of ambulances resources serving rural areas."

 

Photo: Harriett attending the WMAS Board Meeting at Walsall Football Stadium.