Ambulance station to be sold

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that selling off Burgess Hill ambulance station and downgrading the station in Haywards Heath is a mere cost-cutting exercise.

James Pavey, a senior operations manager with the South East Coast Ambulance service (SECAmb) says money will be saved but the shake-up will produce significant advantages.

Addressing a meeting of the Independent Patients’ Forum for Central Sussex last Thursday, the operations manager for Brighton and Rother, said: “A ‘Make-ready’ station at Falmer, provided planning permission is granted, makes operational sense and will lead to a better, more efficient service.”

So called ‘Make-ready’stations already operate at Chertsey, Paddock Wood, Hastings and Ashford. Under the system, ambulances are picked up and dropped off at the stations where professional teams clean them, re-stock them and maintain them.

If a ‘Make-ready’ station opens at Falmer near the Amex stadium, ambulance crews, who currently re-stock and clean their own vehicles, will be freed up to spend more time on the road, helping patients.

Mr Pavey said: “When a patient gets into an ambulance it will be cleaner and properly stocked. The ambulance service was blamed for a lot of the MRSA in hospitals but going down th