Trial moves ambulances to towns

Ambulance crews should reach emergencies within eight minutes

People living in rural areas could find they have to wait longer for an ambulance in a trial aimed at improving emergency response times.

Kent Ambulance Service is testing a new system of responding to 999 calls over the weekend which will see resources concentrated in larger towns.

During the course of the two-day trial, dozens of ambulances will be pulled from rural ambulance stations, leaving communities in remote areas further from emergency aid.

Hayden Newton, chief executive of Kent Ambulance Service, said the experiment was justified because demand was highest in the county's urban areas.

We know these targets do save lives Dover MP Gwyn Prosser

He said crews from the more rural Cranbrook station were frequently called to cover the busy Maidstone area, for example, as was standard practice across the UK.

The trial had been prompted by feedback from ambulance staff saying they were tired of being sent backward and forward between stations.

Mr Newton said: "This is not a major change of working practice because we know from the data we have that the Cranbrook crew, for example, on Friday, Saturday and most likely Sunday evenings as well spends nearly all of its shift in Maidstone.

"They are coping with demand in Maidstone but also taking patients into the town for hospital - so these vehicles are out of the rural areas in the first place."

Eight minutes

Pressure on response times in Thanet, the Medway Towns and the Thames Gateway in particular has already forced the service to improve its performance.

According to current government guidelines, 75% of ambulances are supposed to reach life-threatening 999 emergencies within eight minutes.

In 2002, the Kent service was achieving a rate of only 69.7% - although officials say this has now improved to 74% meeting the required response time.

Labour MP for Dover Gwyn Prosser said he would support the experiment provided rural communities did not suffer.

He said: "We know these targets do save lives and if the professionals and if the trade unions are supporting these changes, then let's look at it."