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Future of ambulance call centre still uncertain

Alice Cunningham
BBC News, Bedfordshire
Steve Hubbard/BBC A drone image of the Bedford Emergency Operations Centre on Hammond Road. The red brick building is over two storeys and has several cars parked outside in a car park. Steve Hubbard/BBC
The future Bedford Emergency Operations Centre in Hammond Road is still to be decided

The future of a 999 emergency call centre run by an ambulance service remains up in the air.

The Bedford Emergency Operations Centre, run by East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST), was at risk of closure in September after the building was found not to be up to "modern control room standards".

The GMB Union announced on Monday the site on Hammond Road would remain open following a EEAST board meeting.

A spokesperson for the trust said however no decisions had been made on the future of its emergency operations centres.

Steve Hubbard/BBC The Bedford office of the East of England Ambulance Service. The building is shown close up with a white sign on the front and the trust logo, it is old red brick and has mirrored windows.Steve Hubbard/BBC
The three EEAST call centres take 3,600 emergency calls a day

The site deals with calls from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and parts of Essex and Suffolk and is home to about 200 staff.

It also housed call handlers for the 111 service and the local patient transport service.

The trust was considering closing the site, repurposing it or refurbishing it.

An email sent to staff last year also acknowledged the trust had been recruiting and training more staff at its Norwich site, and Bedford workers were potentially going to relocate to Chelmsford, 48 miles (77km) or Norwich, 91 miles (146km) away.

"No decisions have been made on the future of our EOCs (Emergency Operations Centres)," an EEAST spokesperson said on Monday.

"Our Board considered a paper on the number of EOCs we need to provide a safe and efficient service to our patients across the East of England at this month's meeting.

"A further report has been commissioned to explore a two-site proposal in more detail.

"This report will include a full review of our three current sites in Bedford, Chelmsford, and Norwich and will consider other viable sites in these locations."

PA Media Mohammad Yasin is pictured speaking in the House of Commons. He has dark thin hair and wears a chequered blue and grey suit with a white shirt underneath and a red tie. Other MPs are pictured sitting and listening behind him.PA Media
Labour MP for Bedford and Kempston, Mohammad Yasin, said he feared the impact a closure would have

Labour MP for Bedford and Kempston, Mohammad Yasin, said the closure of the site would have "a significant impact on the region" and he welcomed the news it would remain open for now.

"Given how overstretched the ambulance service is, losing a control room would have risked compromising the safety of patients," he added.

GMB Union's regional organiser, Donna Thomas, described the proposal to possibly close the site as "reckless".

"The proposed closure would have had a serious knock-on effect on ambulance cover across the region and threatened public safety," she said.

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