Ambulance service could merge to improve emergency response

The Wiltshire service is failing to meet national targets for response times. A year ago only 50 per cent of calls were meeting the eight-minute target, and although this has improved dramatically, reaching 73 per cent last month, the number of emergency calls continues to increase and the pressure is mounting.

Health bosses have now put forward a radical new plan to merge the management of the three county ambulance services or to merge the services entirely.

Andrew Millward, director of communications and public involvement at the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority said: "The most important thing is that services develop in the right way, that patients receive the most appropriate care to meet their needs and that they are able to access this care promptly."

"Closer integration of the existing ambulance trusts in Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire would ensure that more money is spent on front-line services and staff with less money spent on management."

The SHA is keen to stress nothing has been decided yet but admitted it is possible Chippenham could lose the ambulance headquarters.

Tim Skelton, acting chief executive of the Wiltshire Ambulance Trust, said: "We would still need an administrative base in Wiltshire but it might not be the same headquarters that we have at the moment. In any case, we are interested in relocating the headquarters to Devizes because that is where the control room is."

The trade union is also concerned about possible changes to the ambulance training college at Greenways and fear jobs could be lost at the college in a reorganisation.

Jonathan Fox, speaking for the Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel said: "Our major concern is that we could lose the major training college in Chippenham. If they amalgamate they won't keep all three training colleges. At the moment we are at the stage of rumour and conjecture.

"However, staff will be concerned about their future job prospects and need to know exactly what the implications of any change would be."

Mr Skelton said the issue of the training college was not related to the possibility of amalgamation.

"The college is currently very busy with people travelling from all over Britain for training courses at the Chippenham facility."

But a rethink of ambulance personnel training could spell out changes for the college in the future.

"Training for ambulance personnel should be more joined up with training of other NHS professionals and with higher education, and we might not be able to do that at Chippenham. We are looking at the options and no decision has been made," he said.

In May 2004, the health authority and Wiltshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust began a project to review how ambulance services in the county could be best developed and expanded to meet increased demands.

The Wiltshire ambulance trust is one of the smallest in the country, and consequently its administration costs are proportionately very high which could be helped if management was pooled. The three chairmen and chief executives of the ambulance trusts will meet Mr Jones on January 21 to discuss the two options.

If they agree, a consultation period will begin, with the public, patients' forums, local authorities and MPs, likely to take about three months.

Mr Millward said it was unlikely the services would be amalgamated in less than a year, even if the plans are approved and progress smoothly.

Members of the public can raise concerns and questions about the Wiltshire Ambulance Service at a meeting of the patients' watchdog, the Wiltshire Ambulance PPI Forum, on Wednesday, January 19.

The meeting, at the Quakers Meeting House, Sussex Wharf, Devizes, begins with a public forum from 12.45pm to 1.15pm.

At 2pm Paul Gates, director of operations at the Wiltshire Ambulance NHS Trust, will give an update of how the service is performing.