Fears over NHS plan to close all local ambulance stations in London

NHS bosses plan to shut every local ambulance station in London, prompting fears that patients could be harmed if 999 crews take longer to reach them, the Guardian can reveal.

The London ambulance service (LAS) has started a controversial programme to close all 68 ambulance stations and replace them with 18 new “ambulance deployment centres” or “hubs”.

A patient group has criticised the plan as “dangerous” and MPs are worried that having fewer ambulance stations around the capital could mean patients wait longer to get to hospital.

“This move to shut every ambulance station in London could cause significant harm to patients because of the delays that will take place in getting to them,” said Malcolm Alexander, the chair of the LAS Patients’ Forum, a non-statutory watchdog, and Hackney Healthwatch, a government-funded statutory body that scrutinises NHS services in the east London borough.

“We have come across many situations where people have suffered harm because ambulances have taken too long to get there. It looks like this is quite dangerous from the point of view of patient safety.”

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Source: The Guardian, 25 September 2021