4:41pm Tuesday 4th September 2007
By Sue Vickers
A DEMONSTRATION against the threatened closure of the ambulance control centre in Bransford took place at the weekend.
Call centre staff staged the protest with banners and placards to draw attention to their long-running campaign to save the Bransford Emergency Operations Centre, which will close if West Midlands Ambulance Trust goes ahead with its reorganisation plans.
These include closing local emergency call sites and creating two new large centres at Bierley Hill and Stafford to cover the whole of the West Midlands.
Staff, led by senior call-taker Liz Kabani, fear the loss of crucial local knowledge and point to the recent flood emergencies as an example, when many main arterial roads were closed.
They were joined by president of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes MP and the Lib Dem candidate for West Worcestershire Richard Burt, who are backing the campaign.
Mr Hughes, who grew up in Herefordshire, said: "It is vital the public has confidence in our ambulance call service. The control centre at Bransford has a wonderful reputation and has done a fantastic job.
"The plans of the trust seem to ignore local knowledge, local commitment and local views. I am convinced the closure would be to the detriment of emergency ambulance cover in Herefordshire and Worcestershire."
With Richard Burt he promised the the Lib Dems' support in pressuring the Trust to safeguard the centre.
Liz Kabani, who urges the public to join the campaign by contacting the trust and their local MPs and councillors, said: "Feelings are still running high on this and we are getting more and more public support.
"We have already had one alternative proposal put on the table by the Lib Dems and I know of a couple more to come. We hope the trust will look at these and possible take ideas from all of them. They surely cannot ignore everything that is happening."
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