At yesterday’s meeting of full council – Thursday 3rd March – councillors across the political landscape within Monmouthshire County Council stood with its leader Cllr. Richard John in condemning the plans of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to remove the rapid response vehicles from Monmouth and Chepstow ambulance stations as part of its National Roster Review.
Cllr Richard John said: “I believe that downgrading these stations will put the lives of residents in the Monmouth, Chepstow and Caldicot areas at risk, at a time when response time targets for immediately life-threatening ‘Category A’ calls are already being consistently missed, despite the best efforts of paramedics and frontline NHS workers.
“Yet again it feels as though Monmouthshire residents are the victims of the centralisation of NHS services. Many of our older residents don’t drive and would be reliant on an ambulance in a medical emergency. The Trust need to reconsider these plans as a matter of urgency because what they’re proposing is not only unfit for purpose, it has the clear potential to put lives at risk.”
Monmouthshire County Council’s councillors unite in opposition of the move to downgrade ambulance stations in Monmouthshire and calls on Welsh Ambulance Service Trust and the Welsh Government Health Minister to scrap these plans and to meet the Chief Executive of the Welsh Ambulance Trust as soon as possible to discuss this matter.