A GROUP led by an Evesham councillor is to seek a judicial review over the imminent closure of the town’s ambulance station.

Town councillor Emma Nishigaki set up the Facebook group Save Our Community Ambulance Station, which has pulled in more than 2,300 members, having been tipped off by an NHS whistleblower concerned by plans to shut the centre on October 3.

The group has met publicly and had an online question and answer session with West Midlands Ambulance Service’s (WMAS) communication director Murray MacGregor and having been dissatisfied with the reasons for no public consultation taking place, the matter appears to be heading for the High Court.

A judicial review reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body when they are challenged. They address how decision has been made rather than the rights and wrongs of the conclusion reached.

On a Go Fund Me page set up to help support legal action, Cllr Nishigaki claimed “whistleblowers have revealed that this move will result in poor response times in rural areas but this will be masked by better times in urban areas”.

She added that legal eagles would work on a pro-bono basis – free for the benefit of the public interest – but that further funds may be required in case WMAS challenges the call for the review to be held. Any leftover funds will be sent to a charity that supports paramedics.

“Even though the decision has been made, the fight is by no means over,” added Cllr Nishigaki.

“The High Court has the ability to overturn the decision and that is our next step.

“They failed in their legal duty to have a public consultation period and we do not accept the answer that this does not amount to a material change in service.

“The decision has been based on speculative figures on what may happen or what a computer tells them could happen.

“If they are so sure that this will result in better outcomes, why was there no public consultation? It is our belief that this has been kept secret – up until yesterday we know of GPs who were not aware of this – and the only reason it became public knowledge was because paramedics tipped us off.

"We understand their argument which is well phrased, however, despite the trust as a whole having the best response times areas such as Broadway wait on average 20 minutes for a category one emergency. Just because they can argue well doesn’t make them right."

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “There is no substantial change in service. The same number of ambulance staff and the same number of ambulances will continue to operate in the area.

“If the proposed changes are put in place, it will allow us to improve the service that we provide to patients. Currently, due to the inefficiencies of having CAS sites, the trust loses thousands of hours of ambulance time each year, time that our fantastic staff could be responding to patients.

“By removing the 10 CAS sites, we will be able to use those savings in time to respond to 5,000-6,000 additional cases each year, cases where currently patients wait longer for a response than necessary.

“In addition, savings of around £750,000 a year can be made by closing the 10 sites. The money saved would be reinvested in providing more paramedics and more ambulances, which save lives, unlike buildings which are seldom used and do not.

“Morally, we are duty bound to run the most efficient ambulance service so that we can get to patients as quickly as we can and save as many lives as possible. Closing the CAS points will allow us to do that. By asking us to keep the CAS sites open, we are being asked to make patients wait longer for a response than necessary.”