Michael Fabricant has expressed his "sadness and concern" over the shock
resignation of Roger Thayne, Chief Executive of the Staffordshire
Ambulance Service.

Michael says: "Under Roger’s leadership, the Staffordshire Ambulance
Service has out-performed all other ambulance services in Europe with
the fastest response times to emergency calls. His resignation is a
personal shock and, I fear, a reaction to the Government’s plans to
merge the Staffordshire Ambulance Service in with the west midlands.
Despite the Prime Minister’s assurance yesterday and Patricia Hewitt’s,
the Health Secretary’s, assurances that the merger has yet to be
decided, I fear that this is a done deal. I will be collecting a
petition on Friday from Lichfield City Council urging that our Ambulance
Service be kept and will be passing it on to the Health Secretary. I
have no doubt that if the Staffordshire Ambulance Service is swallowed
up into a larger west midlands service, many Staffordshire lives will
be lost unnecessarily. I will continue to fight against this. Time is
critical when dealing with heart attack and sudden stroke victims.

"In the meantime, I wish Roger well. He will be a great loss to
Staffordshire. The uncertainty created by the Government over the
future of our ambulance services has become a disgrace".