News Release

16th August 2006

EMERGENCY DEBATE ON STAFFS AMBULANCE SERVICE

Following reports today (16th August) that Anthony Marsh, the new Chief Executive of the West Midlands Ambulance Service, has said that the forced merger of the Staffordshire Ambulance Service could be completed by the end of this year, Michael Fabricant has vowed he will initiate an emergency Parliamentary debate on the subject once Parliament returns after the summer break.

Michael says: "The forced merger into the regional West Midlands Ambulance Service combined with the removal of ResQpod and other life-saving equipment from Staffordshire Ambulances makes a lie of all the promises given only a few months ago to MPs by Tony Blair and the Secretary of State for Health. I cannot accept that Staffordshire people should have to endure a reduction in standards on the altar of regionalism. Medical experts say that ResQpod equipment saves 20 lives a year on average in Staffordshire. The equipment has never been used by the West Midlands Ambulance Service where, up until now, you are over 4 times likely to die from a heart attack than in Staffordshire.

"We were assured that a take-over had been kicked into the long grass and that, in any event, West Midlands services would be raised to those of Staffordshire before any take-over would be considered. This was clearly a lie and Staffordshire lives will be lost as a consequence. I hope that some Staffordshire Labour MPs - not all - who have peeled away from the previously united front against the take-over will rejoin the campaign for the sake of their constituents" adds Mr Fabricant.

The following is taken from today's Birmingham Post:-

Mr Marsh, aged 41, who took up the post last month, said: "The directions handed down show the merger with Staffordshire should take place by December 31, 2007, but that could happen sooner, maybe by the end of this year. If there's a good case for doing so, why would we delay?

"Roger Thayne has always been very clear the model used in Staffordshire could not operate on a larger scale, hence his fears their performance could be affected," said Mr Marsh. "But, in performance terms, Coventry and Warwickshire are only two per cent behind and Oxfordshire is also on a level pegging with them, so I don't believe Roger's fears are founded.