A FORMER nurse is worried that Louth could receive no ambulance cover if plans to change ambulance stations go ahead.
Jackie Featherstone, who is leading the Keep Calm And Save Louth Ambulance Station campaign, believes the town and its surrounding villages could end up with no cover at all.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) is currently consulting on proposed changes to the service, as reported.
Under current plans, both Grimsby's ambulance station, in Gilbey Way, and Louth's station, in Windsor Road, would close.
The organisation proposes to shut down many of its stations throughout the area because it claims they "are empty most of the time". Instead it plans to create 13 new "hubs" acting as garages or a base for paramedics across the East Midlands.
Grimsby's nearest hub would be in Elsham. For East Lindsey, this would be Skegness.
Alongside this, 131 standby points would be created – one located in each of Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Louth to provide frontline services with hot drinks and toilets when waiting for calls to come in.
Jackie's husband, Roger, has illustrated a 15-mile radius of each proposed super hub, which shows the Louth and Horncastle area falling outside the cover area.
So far, signatures on both paper and online petitions total 1,650. "I spoke to Emas about the threat to Louth ambulance station," Jackie said. "I asked what will happen if an ambulance on its way to be in Louth reacted to a 999 call on the coast.
"I got told, if an ambulance is on its way to Louth from Skegness the ambulance would go back to answer the 999 call and that is where it will stay for the day. This is a serious concern for the whole of Louth as it means the town will be without any cover."
Mrs Featherstone has also raised other concerns including the security of the tactical deployment points, the storage of drugs and the extra travel that will be required by ambulance staff to get to the super hub each morning.
Bob Walker, of EMAS's Being The Best consultation project team, said Louth currently has three ambulance crews and that there are no plans to reduce this level of provision.
He said: "If one of our crews responds to an incident in Skegness that then requires acute care at either Grimsby or Skegness hospitals, we adjust our other resources to ensure we have sufficient cover to meet community needs.
"This is no different from our current situation. There is never a 'no cover' situation; our trained staff make these resource judgements every day.
"The vast majority of calls will not be responded to from hubs but by crews situated at our community ambulance posts.
"Once vehicles are properly serviced and restocked by 24-hour 'make ready' staff at a hub they are taken to community ambulance posts in locations such as Louth. This saves crews the need to drive into Skegness to collect their ambulance vehicle."
The consultation period on the plan ends on Monday, December 17 – keep checking your Telegraph for updates.
