Ambulance cuts will put 'lives at risk'

[annie]

Lives could be "put at risk" in the North West by a move to cut ambulance services, a trade union has warned.

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) is planning on taking a number of ambulances off the road overnight to help save about £14m this year.

Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, Carlisle and Penrith will all lose some overnight services under the move.

The NWAS said for non-life threatening situations, patients would be "pointed in the right direction" for help.

Paul Foley, of Unison, said the move was not "putting patients first".

He said: "If you take emergency vehicles out overnight, the response times to emergencies will be reduced and there is a risk to patients.

"Saying there's someone at the end of a telephone who can talk a patient through whether they need to dial 999 is just delaying the service. Someone who is having a stroke or a heart attack needs an ambulance there rapidly."

More:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27600763

[Rosalind]

That is terrible, it will put lives at risk all to save money, people's lives are more important.

[JaneJ]

That is awful.

Why is it emergency and essential services are the ones that always  get hit the worst?
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