FURIOUS councillors have slammed controversial West Midlands Ambulance Service plans to remove rapid response vehicles from fire stations in Cradley Heath and Stourbridge.

The move comes six years after the service closed down ambulance stations in Cradley Heath, Halesowen and Oldbury.

Belle Vale councillor Ian Cooper slammed the plans, which WMAS claims will not adversely effect response times.

He said: “We were assured at the time of the closures that ambulance vehicles would be based in this part of the Black Country and we have been let down.

“I have spoken to ambulance service staff and understand they are not happy with these developments. We can only wait and see to find out if response times will go up. If they do, people will have a right to be angry.”

He added: “With vehicles not being based in Cradley Heath and Stourbridge, the nearest station will be in Dudley so it will be impossible for vehicles to get to Halesowen and Cradley Heath in eight minutes.”

Cradley Heath and Old Hill councillor Ann Shackleton said: “This is a backwards step, the public accepted that the ambulance service vehicle would be in the fire station, it was common sense, so it is very worrying this situation will now change.”

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The decision to remove the rapid response vehicles from Stourbridge and Halesowen will lead to improvements in patient care as they are replaced by more ambulances.

“Those ambulances will continue to standby at both Haden Cross and Stourbridge Fire Stations so that there will be no change to the speed of response; just a different type of vehicle.

“Getting to patients quickly is still absolutely vital in cases such as a cardiac arrest where every second counts.  For the period January 1 to February 21, the Trust has responded to 82.6% of the most serious calls within the eight minute time frame; far above what is achieved in most other areas of the country.

“Currently, over 85% of incidents in the two towns are already responded to by ambulances, not response cars, and that number has been increasing rapidly as the number of operational staff and staff who are paramedics rises.  The Trust is on course to become the first Trust in the country to have a paramedic on every vehicle.

“In many cases, such as a Stroke, what the patient needs is to be transported to a hyper-acute stroke centre at hospital and that cannot be done by the response vehicle.  It therefore makes sense to send an ambulance first time rather than send a car and then have to wait for an ambulance to come later.  Where a patient doesn’t need to be conveyed, they will be discharged in the same way as the response vehicle would have done."

He added: “With the increased number of ambulances, patients are no longer having to wait for a back-up ambulance, which means those patients that are having to go to hospital are arriving at the A&E Department more quickly than they would have done."

For the period January 1 to February 21, a rapid response vehicle responded to 13.5% of incidents in Halesowen and 14.4% in Stourbridge.

Last month WMAS became the first trust in the country to be given an outstanding rating by the Care Quality Commission.