Reacting to the shock announcement that the Healthcare Commission are to
conduct an Inquiry into the Staffordshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust,
Michael Fabricant says: "This is an odd turn of events. Did the
Chairman and Acting Chief Executive of the Staffordshire Ambulance
Service know of the launch of this inquiry before they announced the
return of some drugs to Community First Responders? The Commission
claim they are responding to concerns ‘from within the Trust, the West
Midlands Strategic Health Authority, and other sources’. Who are the
‘other sources’ and who ‘within the Trust’ have expressed concern? Has
the merger of the Staffordshire Ambulance Service into the West Midlands
Ambulance Service opened a can of worms that will weaken still further
the partnership – now more uneven than ever – promised by the Government
between the West Midlands and Staffordshire Ambulance Services? Is it
in the Government’s interest to smear the performance of the
Staffordshire Ambulance Service in order to ease its total absorption
into the West Midlands Service?

"I shall be meeting with Anthony Marsh, Chief Executive of the West
Midlands Ambulance Service tomorrow (Thursday 25th January) to probe
into these and other issues. I shall also be raising questions in the
House of Commons."