By Caroline Jones
Derby Evening Telegraph
EAST MIDLANDS, England — The chief executive of the region’s ambulance service said he was “embarrassed” to hear stories about patients waiting more than an hour for an ambulance.
And Phil Milligan said keeping “empty stations” - which needed investment - was stopping the service from performing at its best.
He made the comments as members of the East Midlands Ambulance Service’s trust board approved plans to make radical changes to the way the trust operates.
These include replacing the county’s 16 ambulance stations with two supercentres in Derby and Chesterfield, where vehicles would be cleaned and stocked. Paramedics would also be “freed up” to deal with lifethreatening calls, as the trust would send other medical staff to less urgent calls.
Some management posts would also be cut.
Members of the public and ambulance staff will now be asked to voice their opinions on the plans, with a formal consultation due to start in September. Finalised plans will then be put together for January next year.
During yesterday’s board meeting, Mr Milligan said he was getting “too many letters” about patients being kept waiting and said it was an “embarrassment”.
He said: “We’ve had problems and the trust has not achieved its performance standards for the past three years.” He said: “This programme will attend to these issues. They are not quick fixes.”
Some residents - concerned by the proposals to close the majority of the region’s ambulance stations and replace them with 13 “hubs” - handed out letters to board members before the meeting, urging them to rethink the closures.
But the trust had previously said that it would cost £13 million to bring up the region’s “inefficient” stations to “NHS standards”.
Instead, alongside the new super-centres, EMAS plans to set up a number of “tactical deployment points” - small huts or buildings for staff to rest or get a drink.
There would also be 131 standby points, such as laybys, across the region, with 25 in Derbyshire.
At present, the service uses 153 standby points across the East Midlands but they have no facilities.
And James Gray, medical director for EMAS, told the meeting yesterday that having vehicles in the right places - rather than at ambulance stations - was a “nobrainer”.
He also described the buildings as “garages”. He said: “Nothing is being delivered at an ambulance station in terms of care.”
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