CONTROVERSIAL plans to reduce the number of paramedics on ambulances serving the Durham Dales have been put on ice until April 2016 to allow an independent clinical review to take place.

The delayed implementation – which will depend on the outcome of the clinical review - is a response by NHS commissioners to the hostile reception the plans received at public meetings in St John’s Chapel, in Weardale and in Middleton-in-Teesdale and Barnard Castle in Teesdale.

GP commissioners who pay for NHS ambulance services in the Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield want to scrap current arrangements which means that 999 crews operating in Weardale and Teesdale always have two paramedics on board.

The commissioners want all 999 ambulances in their area to be crewed by one paramedic assisted by an emergency care assistant to make the most of scarce paramedics and try to improve below-par emergency call response times across the patch.

In exchange the GP commissioners plan to provide an additional rapid response car crewed by a single paramedic in Bishop Auckland and to recruit an additional 14 emergency care assistants across the patch.

The new proposals are due to be discussed by Durham County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday, September 29.

In a statement Dr Stewart Findlay, chief clinical officer with NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “People were telling us that while they did not support the changes they were concerned about ambulance response times and wanted us to think differently about our approach.

“We have listened to their feedback and to reassure them, we are recommending to the overview and scrutiny committee that implementation of the changes will now take place on April 1, 2016, pending an independent clinical review into the need for a double paramedic crew in the Durham Dales area.”

In the meantime, Dr Findlay said the CCG will continue to push for improved ambulance response times across the DDES area and press for reduced delayed patient handover times at hospital A&E departments.

Councillor John Shuttleworth, who represents Weardale on Durham County Council, said: “They don’t need to have an independent review, they heard what people in St John’s Chapel and Middleton had to say. Their views should be paramount. The independent review will be paid for by the CCG so I wouldn’t believe a word they said.”