Two ambulance 999 call centres to close

The Bedford Emergency Operations Centre will close, although it is set to remain open for about two years

Two 999 emergency call centres run by the region's NHS ambulance service are to close, and a new one will open.

The East of England Ambulance Trust (EEAST) said its sites in Bedford and Chelmsford would shut but it would invest in a new centre in Essex while retaining its site in Norwich.

In September, the trust announced that the Bedford Emergency Operations centre (EOC) was not up to "modern control room standards" and was at risk of closure.

The GMB Union said it would put "significant strain" on the service and "leave large numbers of staff out of a job".

The trust has more than 5,000 members of staff and more than 1,000 volunteers

EEAST said its trustees made the decision at a meeting on Wednesday.

"The board agreed in principle to retain the EOC at Norwich, to close the EOCs at Bedford and Chelmsford and to invest in a new operations centre in Essex, subject to a full business case," it said in a statement.

"This is the best option for our future resilience and for the service for our patients."

The trust said it could be up to two years before a new centre was opened, and all existing EOCs would remain operational until then.

It added that affected staff would be supported and it would look at "every opportunity for them to continue to work for us, including relocation or retraining".

In March, the trust said 99 frontline staff would be added to its centres in Bedford, Chelmsford and Norwich.

'Deeply concerned'

A union spokesperson said the decision to close the Bedford site "could place significant strain on ambulance cover across the East of England and leave large numbers of staff out of a job".

Staff had been told to "either relocate to the more expensive areas of Chelmsford or Norwich, secure another role within the trust, or find themselves made redundant".

Donna Thomas, the GMB's regional organiser, said: "It represents a potential threat to public safety, particularly as the trust is already failing on call wait times.

"We are deeply concerned about the impact it could have on our members, who will be faced with the difficult choice to relocate, redeploy or find themselves out of work."

Ambulance operations centres are currently in Bedford, Chelmsford and Norwich

The trust said it had looked at five options but its decision "offers the most strategically aligned, resilient and future-proofed solution, with long-term benefits across performance, workforce sustainability and operational efficiency".

The Essex location has "a better recruitment and retention profile, has a reasonable market profile to find a suitable property, and will impact fewer staff than a new site in Bedfordshire would".

It said it hoped its decision would "ensure any savings will be reinvested in front-line services and enable EEAST to provide a better service to our patients".