999 bosses don't speak for staff

I write in response to the letter in the Star (August 1) from Murray MacGregor, spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance senior management.

I feel that it is important to offer a response from a member of Shropshire road staff, as the consensus among us is that Mr MacGregor does not speak for us.

I will address Mr MacGregor's points one by one:

Firstly, he states: (referring to the recent suspensions): "It is absolutely nothing to do with the current consultation on reconfiguring emergency operations centres, nothing to do with ambulances from Shropshire attending cases in the Birmingham and the Black Country area".

This is clever wording. Obviously correct in the strictest sense. However, Mr MacGregor must think the public very naive if he expects them to believe this.

He then says: "The suspensions relate to an alleged breach in the Data Protection Act, this is not policy, it is law." The Data Protection Act is enshrined in law, but it relates specifically to the protection of personal data. No personal data has been released to the press.

Mr MacGregor states: "The trust is determined to protect confidential public information."

If Mr MacGregor means confidential personal information, then no one is more committed to this principle than Shropshire's road staff.

Mr MacGregor then asks an emotional question: "Would you want your loved one to wait longer than necessary for an ambulance?"

Every time Shropshire is depleted of its ambulance resources for hours at a time, patients in Shropshire end up waiting longer for an ambulance.

We, the road staff in Shropshire, are dismayed that senior ambulance management seem incapable of maintaining the high standards of openness, honesty and integrity that they expect from their staff.

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