AMBULANCE workers are heading to Parliament today to ask MPs to stop the closure of Bedford emergency call centre.
The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (EEAST) told staff in September that it was going to shut the site and divert calls to its two remaining emergency operations centres in Chelmsford and Norwich.
This was said to be due to the poor state of the building, but the trust took a step back after staff backed a Unison petition warning that the decision would mean dozens of highly trained staff would lose their jobs and that the remaining centres were already stretched.
With 121,000 vacancies and 44.8% of staff feeling unwell from work stress, the NHS 10-year plan will not succeed unless the government takes immediate action to retain existing staff, writes ANNETTE MANSELL-GREEN
