999 staff vote against bid to switch control.AMBULANCE staff in Coventry have registered a vote of no confidence in plans to transfer emergency services emergency services Emergency care '…services …necessary to prevent death or serious impairment of health and, because of the danger to life or health, require the use of the most accessible hospital available and equipped to furnish those services' over to Warwickshire control. The unanimous vote was taken after Coventry Primary Care Trust registered its support for the city's ambulances to switch control from West Midlands Ambulance Service The West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust is the authority responsible for providing NHS ambulance services in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, Warwickshire, West Midlands, and Worcestershire in the West Midlands region. from next April. Paramedics and ambulance staff want more consultation and are hoping for a reversal in the decision. News of the vote has been circulated to Coventry's three MPs and to pressure groups. Laurence Tennant, chief executive of Coventry Primary Care Trust, said he thought staff may change their mind once they found out more about the plans. Warwickshire chief executive Malcolm Hazell is visiting Coventry station tonight to talk to staff. But senior staff representative Mike Burdett, 52, who has been a paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic in the city since 1972, said he doubted workers would shift their stance. He said: "This decision is politically led rather than patient care led." |
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