News Release

17th March 2006

PETITION - SAVE OUR AMBULANCE SERVICE

At 2pm this afternoon (Friday 17th March), Michael Fabricant received petitions signed by 2,500 Staffordshire people against the take-over of the Staffordshire Ambulance Service into a larger regional service. "I will personally take these petitions to Westminster on Monday and they will be presented to Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary. Both she and Tony Blair claim that the review into a regional ambulance service has not yet been completed and options are open. If there is any shred of truth in what they are saying and this isn't a done deal, I hope that all the arguments presented to her and this petition will convince the Health Secretary not to permit this take over. The Staffordshire Ambulance Service has the best response rates to 999 calls in Europe and this is shown by the statistics. In Staffordshire there are 231 successful resuscitations from heart attack compared with just 48 in the west midlands per million population. Staffordshire lives will be lost unnecessarily if this take-over goes ahead.

"Instead of this ill thought out plan, the Government should be helping the West Midlands Ambulance Service with resources to try and achieve the successes of the Staffordshire Ambulance service and its excellent paramedic crews" Michael adds.

(left), left to right: Cllr Michael Oates, Cllr Tony Thompson, Michael Fabricant, and Andy Chappell
(right), left to right: Cllr Tony Thompson, Michael Fabricant, Mr Peter Maxwell, Cllr Michael Oates, and Andy Chappell