Paramedics to quit city base

9:50am Friday 18th July 2008

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PARAMEDICS in York are to move to a new temporary base on the outskirts of the city within two months – as they wait to hear whether plans for a new ambulance station will be given the go-ahead.

The switch will mean the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) saying farewell to its current Dundas Street home in the city centre as part of the service’s “hub and spoke system”.

Part of the vacated Dundas Street site is due to be redeveloped in the transformation of the Hungate area.

To the north of the city, alongside the A19, near Rawcliffe Ings, five semi-permanent buildings will be installed to provide ambulance crews with a facility which it is hoped can be used from September.

Plans for a new York ambulance station at Yearsley Bridge, Huntington Road, will be discussed by City of York council planners at a meeting on Thursday.

And YAS says its plans have not been affected by the controversy surrounding the council’s planned £40 million relocation to Hungate, which has seen it withdraw its planning application for a new civic centre.

The service opened a new stand-by point at the York St John University site in Windmill Lane, off Hull Road, earlier this week, and plans to launch a similar facility at Acomb Library in the next month.

Vince Larvin, YAS’s assistant director of operations for North Yorkshire, assured people the move from Dundas Street to Rawcliffe Ings will not affect response times, which currently mean Category A situations – relating to injuries classed as being “life-threatening” – must be answered within eight minutes of the call being received. He said: “We’re moving so we can deliver services in as dynamic and practical a way as possible.

“Dundas Street has reached the end of its serviceable life. It is no longer feasible and it no longer matches our criteria for meeting performance targets. It has served us admirably but, with the development of urban sprawl and traffic problems, it does not allow us to deploy strategically.

“There will be no interruption to our service and we believe it will allow us to provide roving ambulance cover for the city more effectively.

“Once we have this temporary base in place, together with the stand-by points in Hull Road and Acomb, we expect to see a lift in response times, especially as ambulances are always travelling to and from York Hospital.”

The Rawcliffe site will also provide a base for YAS’s rapid-response vehicles and Mr Larvin said it would be based in a secure compound.

If planning permission is granted, the service hopes it may be able to move into its new Yearsley Bridge home next year.

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