A COUNTY ambulance supremo today blasted radical plans to merge emergency services in the North West by declaring: "Please leave us as we are."

The Government is proposing sweeping changes to the health service which could include merging Lancashire Ambulance Service with Cumbria.

The NHS discussion paper, Fit for the Purpose, has also suggested the possibility of creating a single ambulance service for the whole of the North West.

But David Hill, chief executive of Lancashire Ambulance Service, today attacked the proposals and said any changes would jeopardise public confidence.

He said: "Lancashire Ambulance Service is one in which the public it serves has confidence. This is not easily won and should not be jeopardised without proven need.

"The service is one of the top performing ambulance services in the country. We have invested heavily in control room technology and in radio communications and with modest additional funding we are confident that we can meet all performance targets.

"Change could lead to large and diverse areas of geographical cover, from Crewe to Carlisle, with little synergy between rural and urban areas and quite different operational problems. "The public of Lancashire would need to be reassured that any change would not dilute the standard of service they currently receive."

He said Lancashire Ambulance service should be left alone to continue delivering its "top class" service.

Lancashire Ambulance serves a population of 1.4million and between April 1998 and April 1999 attended 113,900 emergency calls. Crews attended more than 68 per cent of life-threatening calls within eight minutes.

In the latest NHS league tables, the service was the second highest performer in the UK in its response to life-threatening calls and was also in the top three rural services for speed of response to all other 999 calls.

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