The south-east regional office of the NHS is recommending to health minister Hazel Blears that the proposals are given the go-ahead despite fierce opposition from nearly every major organisation involved.
Both Hampshire NHS ambulance trust and Surrey rejected the plans earlier this year, believing that the proposals would not be Òin the interests of the local populationÓ.
In August the Hampshire serviceÕs board decided to oppose the plans, believing that a merger would be Òdetrimental to both residents and staff, who are currently achieving rapid improvements in meeting targets for new standards in response timesÓ.
North HampshireÕs Community Health Council, which acts as a patient watchdog, also opposed the ÒvisionÓ outlined in the consultation document.
The document proposes to restructure every ambulance service in the South East and includes the plans to pool the resources of the Hampshire and Surrey trusts and amalgamate them.
Every community health council in Hampshire and Surrey wrote a joint letter objecting to the plans.
However, the regional office is still pursuing the proposals after a recent meeting between health authority chief executives and the regional director, Ruth Carnell.
In the regional officesÕ paper, Next Steps Following Consultation on a Proposed Restructuring of Ambulance Trusts, the responses to the public consultation are summarised
It says: ÒMost of the responses supported the vision of more effective, modern ambulance services. However, few of the responses expressed unqualified support for the proposals.
ÒMost expressed the view that the case for the particular configuration of merged trusts was inconclusive and there was little consensus among responders on their reasons for overall lack of support.
ÒThis was perhaps because most responders were presenting a local perspective and local circumstances were different.Ó
The paper goes on to outline its recommendation to the health minister.
ÒThe outcome of the meeting was support to proceed with the proposals in the consultant document.
ÒThis will be subject to ministerial approval.Ó
Chairman of the Hampshire Ambulance Trust, Sarah Murray, told The Herald that the service was unhappy at the decision and urged the minister to reject the changes or at least put them on hold.