Monday 22nd April 2013 – 10.30am – Chris Kowalik.
Five ambulance stations in Birmingham (incorporating the borough of Solihull) are to be put up for sale as part of West Midlands Ambulance Service’s ‘Make Ready’ plans.
The Make Ready programme involves the creation of 24/7 fleet maintenance hubs where dedicated teams of Ambulance Fleet Assistants prepare, service and maintain the fleet of ambulances. Oncoming ambulance crews collect their ‘made-ready’ vehicle and go to any of a new network of more than thirty Community Ambulance Stations from where they respond to 999 calls.
The hubs will be based at:
Opus Aspect, Chester Road, Erdington,
Hollymoor Point, Hollymoor Way, Northfield
and in West Bromwich.
Hubs in Erdington and Northfield are currently being constructed. A hub is already in operation in West Bromwich following the refurbishment of the town’s ambulance station in Hargate Lane.
The hubs serve a new network of Community Ambulance Stations which are leased rather than owned. The new Community Ambulance Stations are replacing some of the traditionally owned ambulance stations, are lower maintenance and therefore have lower running costs. When completed, the number of Community Ambulance Stations will be more than three-times that of traditionally owned stations to ensure a faster response to 999 calls.
Consequently, five traditionally owned ambulance stations in Birmingham (incorporating the borough of Solihull) are due to be advertised as for sale:
Chelmsley Wood ambulance station, Waterloo Avenue, Chelmsley Wood B39 6RE – offers invited in the region of £380,000
Hobmoor Road ambulance station, Hobmoor Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B10 9BU – offers invited in the region of £375,000
Monyhull ambulance station, Monyhull Hall Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B30 3QJ – offers invited in the region of £330,000
Solihull ambulance station, Hermitage Road, Solihull B91 2LL – offers invited in the region of £450,000
Sutton Coldfield ambulance station, Shooters Hill, Sutton Coldfield B72 1HX – offers invited in the region of £350,000.
‘Make Ready’ was implemented by the former Staffordshire Ambulance Service fifteen years ago, making it one of the most successful ambulance services with some of the fastest response times in England.
The aim of the hubs is to cut down on ambulance crew ‘downtime’; time when the crew are dealing with issues such as cleaning their vehicle or restocking – time when they are not able to respond to medical emergencies.
‘Make Ready’ is also proven to significantly reduce the waste of out-of-date drugs and supplies. It also reduces spending on aged and expensive ambulance station buildings. The money saved is channelled into frontline ambulance provision.
The ‘Make Ready’ system will be fully in place in Birmingham later this year.
Ends