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North East Ambulance Service

On the point of local knowledge, will my hon. Friend accept that, to date, the consultation with users and staff has been abysmal, and that the consultation with the local authority scrutiny committees has been lamentable? I have asked a series of questions about the problems that we would face on Teesside should the move take place, and they have not been answered. My hon. Friend is outlining the dangers that are there and I am saying that the consultation has not been full enough or sensibly carried out. Therefore, if, at the end of this, a decision is taken to move our Teesside ambulance services to Tyneside, we will ask the national health service’s reconfiguration panel to reconsider the whole process in the belief that the decision will be changed and the ambulance service will be left on Teesside.