West Midlands Ambulance Service in talks over possible merger

West Midlands Ambulance Service has confirmed it has been approached by the East Midlands Ambulance Service, which is struggling financially and has some of the worst response times in England.

It has been reported that EMAS's non-executive directors want to merge with WMAS. Both trusts said discussions on a "range of options" had taken place but talks were at an early stage.

If the merger goes ahead, the new service would cover a population of 10.4 million people and cover 11,500 sq miles.

Murray MacGregor, WMAS spokesman, said: "We can confirm that we were approached by East Midlands Ambulance Service to explore how we might assist them. A range of options have been discussed but talks are at an early stage and nothing has yet been agreed."

EMAS recently applied for a loan after ending the year £12 million in debt, and chief executive Sue Noyes stood down last month. Its response times to the highest-priority emergency calls in 2014-15 were well below national targets.

It is understood EMAS first approached the West Midlands trust about six weeks ago.

A spokeswoman for EMAS said: "Prior to the departure of the EMAS chief executive in March, discussions about the future leadership of the service began between EMAS and NHS Improvement (formerly Trust Development Authority).

"This included talks with West Midlands Ambulance Service about the potential for leadership support from their chief executive.

"This option, and others, are still being explored and discussions have not yet come to a conclusion. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

WMAS has also recently been under pressure.

Last week a boy was taken to A&E in a fire engine as no ambulances were available in Telford.

WMAS admitted it was a "completely unacceptable situation" but said that its vehicles were delayed at both Telford's Princess Royal Hospital and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Figures for the past year also show that WMAS failed to hit response targets for the most serious life-threatening incidents.

With a target of reaching 75 per cent of the most serious calls only 65.6 per cent of the 1,256 Shropshire calls were answered in time.

The Shropshire Star recently revealed that around half of all ambulances are having to wait more than 30 minutes to deliver patients to the county's hospitals.