An urgent meeting was to take place between Maldon's MP John Whittingdale and Essex Ambulance Service's chief executive to discuss the future of the two stations in the district.

Mr Whittingdale, Maldon and East Chelmsford MP, was due to meet with Gron Roberts at the service's headquarters in Chelmsford yesterday (Thursday).

The Tory MP said: "I am very concerned at reports the ambulance stations in Maldon and Burnham may close and will be demanding assurances ambulance cover throughout the Maldon district is maintained and improved.

"I welcome the intention of the service to improve their performance so they hit the Government target of reaching 75 per cent of life-threatening emergencies within eight minutes but this must not be at the expense of the remainder who are likely to be living in more remote areas."

Mr Whittingdale said in some parts of the district the journey time to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, could be anything between 45 minutes to an hour.

"In an emergency local people rely completely on the ambulance service to reach them quickly and to provide treatment. It is literally a matter of life and death that there should be ambulances close at hand to be able to respond at any time.

"I intend to make clear to the chief executive any proposal which will increase the average time taken for an ambulance to reach any part of the district is unacceptable."

In announcing the proposals to close 22 of the smaller stations, Mr Roberts said a more flexible approach to mobilisation was needed to make the service faster and stressed there would be no reduction in the number of available ambulances.

Savings from the closures will be pumped into providing even more ambulance cover

He said it was vital to put ambulances where they were needed to respond quickly to calls. "It is the location of the ambulance rather than the station. It is all about speedy responses in all parts of the county."

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