Richard Burt visiting the staff at the EOC control room in Bransford.
For further information or comment, please contact Richard Burt on 07970 713032
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Press Release
RICHARD BURT
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, West Worcestershire
Contact: 07970 713 032 Embargo: Immediate 3rd August 2007
RICHARD BURT JOINS WITH STAFF TO "SAVE OUR EOC"
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire, Richard Burt,
today joined with staff at the Ambulance Service's threatened Emergency
Operations Centre at Bransford, to co-sponsor the "save your EOC" campaign.
Richard and call centre staff believe the quality of emergency ambulance cover
in Worcestershire and Herefordshire will suffer and local jobs will be lost if
West Midlands Ambulance Services NHS Trust goes ahead with its proposals to shut
the county's Emergency Operations Centre and transfer operations to Brierley
Hill.
Speaking after a meeting with managers and staff at Bransford OEC, Richard said:
"We have nine weeks to save our local Ambulance call centre and prevent what
would amount to a real and detrimental cut to the emergency care of local
people.
"As someone who worked in an emergency services cover, I can appreciate the
importance of keeping a dedicated local team with local knowledge for
Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
“Bransford dealt with nearly 700 calls over the first three days of the recent
flooding and staff performed out of their skins to maintain first class cover
throughout.
"The relocation of staff under the current proposals would inevitably lead to
people who are not prepared, or who are unable, to transfer because of the
distance they would have to travel to work. Eventually this will mean that there
will be very few if any staff from Hereford and Worcester working in Brierley
Hill."
The LibDem candidate reinforced the view that the 5 ambulance call centres in
the West Midlands do need to be able to communicate with each other more
effectively, but sees no reason why that could not happen by simply introducing
the new technology available.
"I fully understand the need for a more integrated service in the West Midlands
for tackling emergencies and would support the right initiatives to achieve
this.
"However, greater coherence is quite different from centralisation, which would
merely ride roughshod over local knowledge and experience."
Trust Managers admitted that it would be possible to re-scale the proposed
expansion of the call centres at Brierley Hill and Stafford if the other centres
remained open. The money saved could be used to improve communication between
all the existing centres.
"I see no reason why Stafford could not be upgraded to mirror the centre in
Brierley Hill so that if needed they could provide appropriate high volume call
cover for each other whilst keeping the other call centres too.
"I will be campaigning with staff throughout the public consultation period to
save Bransford EOC and to provide a real and viable alternative to the current
plans," added Richard Burt
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
The local Ambulance trust wants to close the Bransford centre, along with one in
Shropshire, and create two larger regional centres, at Brierley Hill and
Stafford, with a support centre at Leamington Spa.
Richard and staff urge the public to visit the website for further information
at: www.saveyoureoc.co.uk
and to sign the online petition at
www.thisisworcester.co.uk
Richard Burt visiting the staff at the EOC control room in Bransford.
For further information or comment, please contact Richard Burt on 07970 713032
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