local MP Tom Levitt's surgery in Tesco's last Saturday.
The changes which will see the ambulance currently based at Glossop's
Ambulance Station moved during the day to Dukinfield and replaced by a car
based Emergency Care Practitioner means that according to details reported
in last weeks paper should an ambulance be required it will have a 14 minute
lead time just to get to Glossop.
The primary care trust via it's Glossop based chair Ian McCrae argues that
rather than this been a negative change, it actually represents a
significant investment by the PCT, in partnership with the North West
Ambulance Service and will actually provide a higher level of cover to the
area, as they will be in a position to treat and refer patients not
necessarily requiring transportation to hospital, and that as opposed to the
temporarily based ambulance which would respond to calls across the PCT
area, the new practitioner will be solely based in Glossopdale.
However from the views expressed on Saturday morning local people are
unconvinced of the change which appears to have been introduced with little
or no consultation or notice until the story appeared in the local papers
last week, and which as of Saturday morning over 170 people had signed a
petition objecting to the change, which they intend to keep in local shops
prior to sending to the North West Ambulance Service.
The apparent lack of consultation or notice on the issue is a particular
concern as one (amougst many) of the reason for retaining the local Tameside
and Glossop PCT rather than joining with a more remote PCT was that
consultation and information on both the provision and plans for local
health services would be better, something which with this issue dosen't
appear to have gone to plan.
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