Jobs boost in ambulance stations shake-up

Major changes to the way Shropshire's ambulance service operates have resulted in eleven new jobs, it was revealed today. The posts are being created at two ambulance maintenance departments.

These sites, in Donnington and Shrewsbury, will be known as hubs and will see staff preparing, servicing and maintaining ambulances around the clock.

Five fleet ambulance staff have been employed at Donnington and six will work at a similar base to be set up in Shrewsbury.

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Ambulance crews will collect their vehicle from one of the two hubs and go to county ambulance stations from where they will respond to 999 calls.

Service managers say the hubs will cut down on ambulance crew 'downtime' when the crew was dealing with issues such as cleaning their vehicle or restocking.

The changes are part of a £7million shake-up of the county ambulance service.

It will see stations in Bridgnorth and Tweedale, in Telford, being sold off.

Ambulance bosses say the changes will save money which can be put into frontline services.