While welcoming public consultation on the future of ambulance services in the South East, members at last week's board meeting felt there was insufficient information for the proposal to be considered a viable option.
The resulting upheaval, they believe, would be "detrimental to both residents and staff who are currently achieving rapid improvements in meeting targets for new standards in response times."
Furthermore, they are not convinced that the health authorities will have sufficient funding to invest in the merger and that any savings as a result of a reconfiguration would have to be re-invested along with substantial additional investment to ensure the success of the proposal.
The news has been welcomed by the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Community Health Council who recently voted against the preferred 'vision' which is to pool resources by reducing the eight existing trusts to three, to include the amalgamation of Hampshire with Surrey.
While accepting the warning that "staying still is not an option" if the ambulance service is to deliver a modern service, they too felt there to be too many questions outstanding regarding the impact of a future Hampshire/Surrey merger on local communities.
Alton dentist Tony Phillips first asked the question on everyone's lips and continued to press for answers about where Alton ambulances were likely to be based on standby duty and how this would affect response times in this rural area.
His questioning was highlighted by concerns expressed by Alton ambulance man Jim Barnett who spoke out against a new system which he believes is sacrificing rural areas like Alton and Bordon to ensure the service meets government response targets in the more densely populated city areas.
According to Mr Barnett, crews from Alton are being positioned as far afield as Southampton, Portsmouth and Basingstoke, leaving their own area without local cover.
The new system, introduced as part of the current modernisation programme, means that ambulances are cited at strategic accident blackspots and not at their stations.
"In my view so far ambulance standby points have not worked," said Mr Barnett who pointed out that it was difficult enough to get from Alton to Bordon in eight minutes to meet life-threatening response targets without having to cover extra mileage.
His fear is that a merged with Surrey would exacerbated the problem. "Big is not always beautiful," he warned.
Another member of the audience, representing a local GP surgery, spoke of recent difficulties getting hold of the ambulance service switchboard - put down by assistant chief ambulance officer for Hampshire, Gerry Wilkinson, to teething problems surrounding the county's new £2.7m command and control centre which should be overcome by a current staff recruitment programme. On the whole, however, Hampshire response times had improved since May rising from just 38.2 per cent to 75 per cent of life threatening calls now meeting the eight minute standard.
Earlier in the meeting Mr Wilkinson had sought to outline the perceived advantages of an integrated service which would be expected to facilitate more money for patient care and result in a more efficient and effective service.
The Hampshire Trust, he said, currently served 1.25m people using 480 ambulance staff, responding to 85,000 calls a year on a budget of £19m.
A merger with Surrey would more than double the size of the organisation resulting in 2.65m people being served by 1,000 staff, answering 165,000 calls a year on a budget of £38m.
While recognising the need for pump priming to get the merger off to a solid start, a larger £38m budget would be expected to give" more weight and influence when it came to arguing the need for more resources to improve the service." A larger trust would also (Continued from Page 3)
facilitate greater purchasing power.
An alternative to the three trust option would be the creation of a single regional ambulance trust for the South East. While to go for one trust would, said Mr Wilkinson, make more economic sense it would also risk the loss of local contact and accountability. "A two trust merger would be the best way of achieving a balance," he suggested.
In acknowledging the need to achieve some economy of scale, director of planning performance and partnership at the North and Mid Hampshire Health Authority, Eileen Spiller, pointed out that the NMHHA has contributed £1.8m towards Hampshire Ambulance Service this year and wanted value for money.
"We are beginning to get that in terms of improved performance but we won't invest any extra money unless we see real improvements in care and value for money.
If the decision is taken to amalgamate we will have to take a long hard look at where money is coming from," she said.
Chief officer for the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Community Health Council Chris Marsh-Jenks later told The Herald that, while local feeling was obviously to oppose the Hampshire/Surrey merger, it doesn't mean that it won't happen. "The ultimate decision will be taken by at regional level in September," she said.