My colleague and friend Rory Stewart MP has been very active with the community of Alston, and the Border counties of south west Northumberland, North West Durham, and Eastern Cumbria to help the local community retain their community ambulance.
Huge congratulations to him and all the locals who make such a difference, particularly Dr Malcolm Forster.
It has long been my hope that in Bellingham and the Scottish border country we could try and create a similarly successful model by using the firemen, police officers and community paramedics in a similar way to ensure the upper north Tyne has cover. I had further discussions on this issue with fire brigade chiefs last week and we continue to look at whether we can solve the problem with the work to increase co-responding and use of alternative vehicles and semi qualified support.
