Ambulance chief sets out case for new Brighton base

An ambulance chief told councillors in Brighton and Hove why it wanted to set up an operational control centre at Falmer.

James Pavey, senior operations manager for South East Coast Ambulance Service, said that the “make ready” centre would mean that paramedics could spend more time treating patients.

Ambulances would be cleaned, serviced and restocked by specialist staff. Among other things, they would swab the ambulances and check for infections such as clostridium difficile (c diff). In other areas this had helped cut infection rates.

The new centre is planned for Woollard’s Field in Falmer, next to the Keep, which is the new archive and records centre for Brighton and Hove and East Sussex.

He said that Hove Ambulance Station, in St Joseph’s Close, off Old Shoreham Road, would stay open.

The old ambulance station at Brighton General Hospital, in Elm Grove, would close and the site would be sold.

He said: “It was old when I started working there 19 years ago and it hasn’t got any younger or better.

“There is no land available there. There are more staff working there now. We’ve outgrown it.”

He added that the ambulance service was creating extra strategic response posts. These were places where ambulances waited between calls, close to where they were most likely to be needed, to minimise response times.

The new base is expected to create at least 14 jobs servicing between 7 and 14 ambulances.

A decision on planning permission is awaited.