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West Midlands Ambulance Service Board approves plans for EOC upgrade
The Board of West Midlands Ambulance Service has given the green light to plans that will lead to improved patient services across the region. The Trust is to create two large regional emergency operations centres (EOCs) in Stafford and Brierley Hill in Dudley with a smaller centre in Leamington Spa; the move will see the eventual closure of centres at Bransford near Worcester and in Shrewsbury.
All three centres will be linked together creating a virtual network. The Trust will also standardise its equipment with one regional dispatch system, new digital radio communications and vastly increased resilience.
Trust Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, said: “The current arrangements are simply not safe and this decision will allow us to implement a system that is safe.
“I don’t think anyone that took part in the consultation disputes that we need to make changes; this decision will allow us to provide better care for patients, provide the best training and equipment for staff and ensure that we can deal with surges in activity, deal with a major incident or handle the catastrophic failure of one of the centres.
“Nothing will happen overnight. It will be next summer before the first phase of the proposal is ready to be implemented and it will be roughly 12 months time before the whole project is completed.
“We understand that people are concerned that ambulances will be drawn into urban centres. We are developing plans which will ensure that there is a minimum level of cover, wherever you are in the region. We will also continue to report publicly our performance by Locality and by Primary Care Trust area. “Our Commissioners will also be scrutinising our performance to ensure that all areas of the Trust benefit from these changes.
“People need to remember that we have no intention of closing ambulance stations; the ambulance crews will remain where they are. We will also be increasing the number of staff and emergency vehicles into each Locality over the coming months.”
The decision follows a three month consultation process in which the Trust carried out just under 130 meetings; of the 340 letters and e-mails received, almost 70% were in support of the proposals. The Trust also received two petitions.
Trust Chairman, Sir Graham Meldrum, said: “We are very pleased with the level of participation associated with the consultation. It shows just how important the ambulance service is to people in our region. That is why we will not make any changes until we are certain that we will see an improvement in the service provided to all areas of the region, whether they are urban or rural.
“The views expressed during the consultation have been extremely helpful to us and we have used them to build in cast iron safeguards that will ensure we phase in the implementation of the proposal in the right way.
“We have strived to ensure that we have followed best practice in the way that we have conducted the consultation. We have now received three independent reports which have looked at the content of our proposals and the way we have monitored the feedback – all have backed the Trust.
“The Board has put in place robust gateways which will ensure that we monitor, test and scrutinise each step of the process of change.”
Mr Marsh added: “This is clearly a very difficult situation for staff and every effort will be made to accommodate their needs. We have given an assurance that there will be no compulsory redundancies and we will now work, on a one-to-one basis, with each person to look at what is the best way forward for them.
“We hope many will transfer to one of the three EOCs, but if that is not appropriate for any reason then we will work with them to find an alternative position within the Trust.
“I am absolutely convinced that these changes will lead to better services for patients and improved resilience. This has got to be good news for patients and the public.”
