Last night John Mann has an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons and he chose once again to highlight just how out of touch with reality he is.   He chose to highlight the re-organisation of EMAS, in itself a very proper subject for debate.

He started off describing in great detail the problems that EMAS faces in funding and how it is not meeting the needs of people throughout the East Midlands but especially in Bassetlaw.  He goes on the point out how the Ambulance response targets introduced by the last (Labour) government are skewing how EMAS respond to call outs.

So far so good; an accurate description of a vital service for everyone in dire need of re-organisation and I agree with much of his diagnosis of the current problems.  Indeed, at public meetings during the consultation I heard Phil Milligan say very much the same things, which is why he has been looking at ways to improve the service.

So, what is John Mann’s suggestion of how it can be improved?  Keep everything as it is!  Keep buildings in Worksop, Retford & Gainsborough that stand empty most of the time.  Don’t use mechanics to clean, prepare & stock vehicles for shifts, let paramedics to do this.  Don’t make any changes to the current way of working, the very way that is not providing a good service at the moment

I have been follow the EMAS re-organisation since Labour put out it’s scare leaflets  in the run up to last year’s local election.  I have spent time reading the consultation documents and attended public meetings.   The real way to improve the ambulance service is simple, more ambulances & more crews available across the region.  It doesn’t matter if they are theoretically based in a local designated building or at the Fire Station or the Leisure Centre or in a lay-by on the A1; most of the time they will be on the road, responding to emergencies or transporting casualties to hospital.

Until John Mann realises that it is not where ambulances are based that is important but how many there are and what is the best way of making sure they can respond quickly to call outs, then he is doing a disservice to the people of Bassetlaw and condemning them to a continuing below standard service.

In the rest of the debate, other East Midlands MPs also contribute with comments that show that, irrespective of what changes are made or not made,  EMAS need to work very hard to show all the people of the region, including Bassetlaw, that they really mean what they say about “Being the Best”.  I can promise you ( will continue to follow up on this and keep everyone informed