Nein! Nein! Nein! in ambulance cuts

They voiced concern over Greater Manchester Ambulance Service plans to axe the extra emergency ambulance introduced last year at Atherleigh station.

The seven-days-a-week 8am-midnight 999 cover introduced to take on the extra workload created when Leigh Infirmary's accident and emergency unit was shut will stop next week.

GMAS says an ongoing high-tech monitoring process has highlighted the need for change and stressed service improvement would be the end result.

But the move has been slammed as "disgusting" by Save Leigh Infirmary Campaign leader Cllr Brian Jarvis.

He said:"Since Leigh Infirmary A & E closed we need more cover and better services.

"Taking this ambulance away is just unbelievable. But then nothing surprises me anymore about decisions taken by Greater Manchester Ambulance Service.

"They are pinching time from the wrong station. When you think people of Leigh have to travel furthest that extra ambulance could prove a life-saver.

"This is just dicing with death."

The ambulance 'time' will be shared between Bolton and Hindley stations.

Cllr Jarvis said Atherleigh crews were busier than ever but the changes would mean the station had three emergency vehicles available on weekdays and two at weekend with only one emergency vehicle from 2am - 8am.

Added to this he highlighted the fact that each emergency call took one or one-and-a-half hours to deal with because of travelling distances involved.

But a spokesman for Greater Manchester Ambulance Service promised:"If anything, people can be more confident in our constantly improving service.

"Changes are part of our ongoing review process. Response rates have increased significantly and overall ambulance hours have been increased.

"We're getting there sooner, more often. Greater Manchester Ambulance Service has the second best response rate in the country - very close to target achievement."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.