WHISTLEBLOWING ambulance crews have slammed plans to remove rapid response vehicles from Haden Cross Fire Station claiming the public will be put in danger.

In February, the News revealed the controversial West Midlands Ambulance Service plans which come into effect on Saturday – six years after ambulance stations were closed in Cradley Heath, Halesowen and Oldbury.

WMAS employees, who did not want to be named for fear of losing their jobs, also claim they were promised training to ensure the previous reorganisation was a success but courses never materialised.

In a statement they said: “We feel it necessary to highlight serious, actually dangerous issues that are being faced within the ambulance service.

“The changes will no doubt have detrimental consequences on the health, well-being and actual survival of tax paying members of the public.

“From the start of April there will be no regular ambulance cover, whether from a car or double crewed ambulance.

“Halesowen and Stourbridge had everything offered to them and will now have nothing.

“It will be a fluke, a chance, if an ambulance happens to be in that area when a seriously injured person phones 999.”

Cradley Heath and Old Hill councillor Ann Shackleton and Belle Vale councillor Ian Cooper both blasted the removal of the rapid response vehicles and accused WMAS of breaking promises.

However, WMAS have refuted that the reorganisation will have any negative effects on call out times.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The decision to remove the rapid response vehicles from Stourbridge and Halesowen will lead to improvements in patient care as they are replaced by more ambulances.

“Those ambulances will continue to standby at both Haden Cross and Stourbridge Fire Stations so that there will be no change to the speed of response; just a different type of vehicle.

“Getting to patients quickly is still absolutely vital in cases such as a cardiac arrest where every second counts. For the period January 1 to February 21, the Trust has responded to 82.6% of the most serious calls within the eight minute time frame; far above what is achieved in most other areas of the country.

“Currently, over 85% of incidents in the two towns are already responded to by ambulances, not response cars, and that number has been increasing rapidly as the number of operational staff and staff who are paramedics rises. The Trust is on course to become the first Trust in the country to have a paramedic on every vehicle.

“In many cases, such as a Stroke, what the patient needs is to be transported to a hyper-acute stroke centre at hospital and that cannot be done by the response vehicle. It therefore makes sense to send an ambulance first time rather than send a car and then have to wait for an ambulance to come later. Where a patient doesn’t need to be conveyed, they will be discharged in the same way as the response vehicle would have done."

He added: “With the increased number of ambulances, patients are no longer having to wait for a back-up ambulance, which means those patients that are having to go to hospital are arriving at the A&E Department more quickly than they would have done."

For the period January 1 to February 21, a rapid response vehicle responded to 13.5% of incidents in Halesowen and 14.4% in Stourbridge.

In January WMAS became the first trust in the country to be given an outstanding rating by the Care Quality Commission.