A LONG-SERVING GP who is also a senior figure in NHS management has urged a sceptical Teesdale audience to support controversial changes to ambulance crews.

Dr Stewart Findlay, chief clinical officer of the Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group, told a packed public meeting in Middleton-in-Teesdale village hall that the CCG’s plans had the best interests of Durham Dales residents at heart.

A succession of speakers had questioned the wisdom of withdrawing double paramedic crews from Durham Dales ambulances and replacing them with a paramedic and an emergency care assistant with only seven weeks basic medical training.

But Dr Findlay said the proposed changes, combined with the hiring of an extra 14 emergency care assistants and providing an additional paramedic-crewed rapid response vehicle in Bishop Auckland, would allow more ambulances across the CCG area to be crewed by at least one paramedic and help to boost response times to the most serious 999 calls.

Dr Findlay said by providing an additional paramedic-crewed rapid response vehicle in Bishop Auckland this should prevent the dedicated Durham Dales ambulances from being diverted0 into answering 999 calls in more populated areas on the way back from hospital.

“We are looking at current responses to emergency call-outs in Weardale of 44 per cent when the national target is 75 per cent within eight minutes. That is not safe. We have to think again,” he added.

One local resident was applauded loudly when she said: “My understanding is that we should have two ring fenced double crewed ambulances based in Teesdale and Weardale. The whole rationale is that we are a long way frm the hospitals. We need extra resources so patients don’t die before they get to hospital and we need experts to do that,”

Another woman resident said it seemed that the whole exercise was about saving money.

Dr Findlay denied this was the case but pointed out that the NHS was facing a financial crisis.

Officials from the North East Ambulance Service told the meeting that the model of having a single paramedic working with an ECA was working well in rural Northumberland and had not adversely affected patient outcomes.

Members of the audience were urged to fill in a feedback form which will be considered by members of Durham County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee when they discuss the ambulance proposals on September 29 at County Hall in Durham City.