Shropshire Star

Ludlow ambulance station to close next month

Ludlow's ambulance station will close next month in a major shake-up of services.

Published

The stand-by point in Ludlow, which opened five years ago, is shutting in May and crews will be moved to the station in Craven Arms.

West Midlands Ambulance Service currently has one rapid response car based in Ludlow but a new initiative will see the amount of cars reduced from 100 to just a dozen.

Instead, the service is investing in more ambulances and is increasing its fleet from 200 to 330.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Murray McGregor said the decision to close Ludlow will mean money saved can be better invested elsewhere.

He said it would not affect the level of service residents in the south of the county receive, and there would still be the same amount of staff on duty.

"The cost of having a building there that is rarely used is huge," he said.

"It makes more sense to invest in staff and vehicles, so therefore we have been looking over some considerable period of time at which stand-by points we need.

"We have spoken to senior staff and asked if we're going to have a station in south Shropshire, which one would they choose.

"They said Craven Arms because strategically it is a better location to cover south Shropshire.

Decision

"What we have learnt is that ambulances don't actually get to stand-by points because they just go on to their next job so it is a waste of money."

He said it is something the service has been working on for the last two years after the decision was taken to remodel the way care was provided.

Ambulance crews were given a target of reaching patients in eight minutes - a figure that only half nationally were hitting.

This has since been replaced with a new model which sets a target of 18 minutes and relies more heavily on ambulances than the cars.

Mr McGregor said rapid response cars were often on scene within eight minutes but could not take the patient to hospital.

"It is 10 minutes longer but it has to be a vehicle which can convey the patient to hospital," he said.

"They were getting a car there which stops the clock for a tick in the box but it was not particularly helping the patient because they were still having to wait sometimes two to three hours because they actually needed an ambulance."

Bosses said that by closing certain stand-by points, the money saved could be used to buy new ambulances.