Brand new £70,000 front-line ambulances have been sitting unused at Shrewsbury’s Abbey Foregate HQ for the past month while bosses wait for essential medical equipment to be delivered.
Four out of ten ambulances planned for the Shropshire fleet are reportedly ready for use and fitted with top-of-the range communications equipment.
Seven of the ambulances arrived in the town in January – but no date has yet been set for them to be introduced into regular service.
And in a further blow for town residents, West Midlands Ambulance Trust officials have confirmed that 999 emergency calls have been received by staff at Brierley Hill’s response centre from this week due to ‘staff shortages’ at the Shrewsbury control room.
It is understood three of the ambulances will be based at Shrewsbury, and an ambulance source said four of the county’s vehicles had been fully fitted and awaiting medical equipment for more than a month.
The ambulances have been delivered as part of a scheme to introduce 60 new vehicles across the region and Trust officials are hoping to introduce them to the fleet by March 31.
The Shrewsbury control room is not due to close until later this year, but WMAS officials have claimed that there are five vacancies in the control room due to staff finding alternative posts within the service or seeking new jobs.
Claudine Weeks, press officer for West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “We can confirm we received delivery of the new vehicles in January but they are still awaiting fitting of vital life-saving equipment. Therefore they are not ready to be released into service yet. Each vehicle is worth approximately £70,000.
“The Trust has ordered 60 new ambulances for the whole region with a pledge to have them on the road by March 31 and we are well on target to achieve that.”
A WMAS spokesman said: “West Midlands Ambulance Service can confirm that call handling for 999 calls in Shropshire was moved from Shrewsbury to Brierley Hill from Monday, February 11.
“However, the dispatch of vehicles is to remain at Abbey Foregate until the Trust proceeds with the full implementation of its reconfiguration plans for Emergency Operations Centres.”
Steve Jetley, a former ambulance worker who has led the campaign against the closure of the Shrewsbury control room, said: “I’m horrified that 999 calls are being taken at Brierley Hill already. I believe that this will put people’s lives at risk – the people of Shropshire had better not need to call an ambulance in the near future.”
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