Ambulance service to close control centre in town

The service's chair says a refurbishment of the control room would cost between £3.5m and £4m

The chair of an ambulance trust has defended plans to close its control centre in a town.

Mrunal Sisodia, chair of East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said the decision to close the Bedford control room was due to outdated infrastructure, rising call volumes and inefficiencies in running three control centres in Bedford, Chelmsford and Norwich.

A full refurbishment of the control room would cost between £3.5m and £4m, and "still not make it fit for purpose", Mr Sisodia told Bedford Borough Council's Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday.

He added the closure would not adversely affect emergency services in the area and would allow for investment in front-line care.

The trust is proposing to consolidate its operations into two centres in Norwich and Chelmsford, a move projected to save £1.2m a year.

This would be the equivalent of funding "five or six extra ambulances" that could serve up to 10,000 more patients annually, the meeting heard.

Staff redeployed

When acknowledging concerns raised by unions, Mr Sisodia emphasised that staff welfare was "explicitly discussed" by the board.

He said the trust would seek to redeploy staff internally within the trust, collaborate with other emergency services to place staff elsewhere in the NHS and provide support packages for staff facing redundancy.

Mr Sisodia told the committee the proposal would not reduce ambulance coverage in Bedfordshire and sought to assure members that the service was "not withdrawing" from the county.

"We have 328 A&E staff, that's our front-line ambulance staff who respond directly to patients in Bedfordshire," he said.

"There's no intention to cut that. In fact, we're very much anticipating some of the population growth.

"I haven't got my crystal ball, I don't know exactly what that will be, but I can say unequivocally that it will be increasing.

"We run 38 vehicles out of Bedfordshire, that will be increasing over the coming years.

"We will continue to invest in Bedford," he added.

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