Kidderminster ambulance station to close

Kidderminster's ambulance station will be shut and its staff moved to three smaller community bases in the town under new cost-saving proposals.

The station, in Stourport Road, will be put on the market by West Midlands Ambulance Service.

Paramedics will collect their ambulances from either Bromsgrove or Worcester and then roll out to their community stations, where they will respond to emergency calls.

Ambulance bosses also plan to have open a community station in Stourport, which does not currently have a permanent base.

The new facilities will be leased at a lower cost than the currently-owned station.

Stations in Bromsgrove and Worcester are being revamped at a cost of £1.45 million to provide maintenance hubs for the county.

Ambulance fleet assistants will clean, stock and prepare ambulances ready for when they are collected by paramedics. Bosses say this move will help reduce times crews spend waiting for vehicles to be mintained.

Sites for the community stations in Kidderminster and Stourport have been identified and will be publicised in due course. Staff will be relocated next year.