Campaign to keep 999 service

A campaign looks set to be launched near the Shropshire/Powys border in a bid to save an ambulance station from being downgraded.

It has been proposed to reduce cover at Llanfyllin Ambulance Station to 12 hours a day with a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle the remainder of the time.

Campaigners yesterday met with Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik and AM Mick Bates.

Mr Opik said: "Anybody in a 10-mile radius of Llanfyllin knows the importance of the ambulance station here. Proposals to close this station make no sense to residents because they know lives will be lost if the station closes, even with the alternative suggestion of a rapid response vehicle.

"We need to keep this open and listen to the needs of the people, not the whims of accountants."

Mr Bates called on residents to hold a public meeting, start a petition and form an action group in the town.

Plans will be put together following a Town Council and Patients Participation meeting on October 15 and a town council meeting, which is open to the public, on October 17.

Resident Diane Thomas said: "I live up at Lake Vyrnwy and when my son collapsed and had a fit, the Llanfyllin ambulance got to me in 10 minutes.

"Then we had campers on the field, a boy scout group. One of the lads was found unconscious and we rang for an ambulance. One had to come from Bala, but it took between 45 to 56 minutes. For people like us who do live further out we rely on Llanfyllin ambulance."

Mayor Jennie Castle said with more people moving to the area due to housing developments it is "absolutely crucial" to keep the service.

Regional director of Ambulance Services for Central and West Wales Andy Roughton said: "We have no intention of reducing staffing levels but changing the way we provide the service is an essential part of this plan."