Reader Letter: Concerns raised over Ambulance service reshuffle

The proposed re-organisation of ambulance services in the East of England gives rise to considerable concerns.

North Norfolk currently has amongst the worst ambulance response times in the country, and any improvement to that service would clearly be welcome.

However, all changes to our health service need to be seen through the lens of consistent under-funding and the consequent pressure on service providers to make improvements to services while at the same time saving money.

It is claimed that the concentration of facilities in three hubs in Great Yarmouth, Norwich and King's Lynn will only affect staff, not services to patients.

For those of us living furthest away from these hubs, this is hard to believe.

If the hubs save crews, the time they now take to prepare their vehicles by providing that function for them, surely a crew member who has to commute into Norwich to fetch their vehicle and then out to a 'spoke' in, say, Cromer will lose that time fetching their vehicle?

'Improved efficiency' tends to mean trying to get better results from less.

The NHS has reached the end of the road in this. Only adequate funding, and stopping NHS money going to increase the profits of private providers, will improve services for patients.

Jane Worsdale, Vice-Chair, North Norfolk Constituency Labour Party, Common Lane, Sheringham.