AS Haslemere Ambulance Station prepares to move into its new site at Haslemere Hospital this summer, public consultation meetings are to be held over plans to merge Hampshire and Surrey services.
Part of a preferred option to create three new ambulance trusts in the south east region, a three-month public consultation period, which started in May with a pause during the general election, has now been extended to September 7.
A public meeting will take place in July in Haslemere as part of a number set up across Hampshire and Surrey.
People can find out more and make their comments about plans to modernise ambulance services across the region, which are aimed a giving a faster service and maximising resources for patient care.
With the present Surrey headquarters based in Banstead and Hampshire's HQ in Winchester, no decision has yet been made over the siting of a new control centre for the proposed Hampshire and Surrey Ambulance Trust.
Surrey is one of the smaller organisations within the context of NHS trusts, and West Surrey Health Authority has said that there were no plans to relocate or reduce the number of ambulance stations, although individual ambulance trusts may be reviewing their sites as a separate exercise.
In Haslemere, the ambulance station is expected to move from its present Grayswood Road site to a refurbished area in the grounds of Haslemere Hospital soon.
The move follows the sale of the third-of-an- acre plot, jointly owned by Surrey County Council and Surrey Ambulance Service for a reputed three-quarters of a million pounds, to a housing developer earlier this year.
Commenting on the consultation, Alan Kennedy, Chief Officer of Surrey Ambulance Service Trust said: "It is important that local people, whether they live or work in the area, let us have their comments on the proposals.
"Ambulance services need to be flexible and responsive to the needs of local people, patients and carers and we can only achieve this by understanding their views.
"We want to see as many people as possible attend meetings and comment on the proposals."
The Haslemere meeting takes place on July 10 at Methodist Church Hall, Lion Green, Haslemere at 7-30 pm.