PEOPLE are making their voices heard in the Worcester News campaign against the proposed closure of the Worcester ambulance call centre.

Almost 700 people have signed our petition to save the centre since we launched our campaign 11 days ago.

online petition - click now!

Staff have already spoken of their outrage at the proposed closure of the Bransford Emergency Operations Centre, and the people's voice is increasing by the day.

West Midlands Ambulance Services NHS Trust wants to close the Bransford centre, along with one in Shrewsbury, in favour of two larger regional call centres at Brierley Hill and Stafford, with a support centre at Leamington Spa.

We went out on the streets of St John's, Worcester, to ask people what they thought about the proposal.

.Heather Lewis, aged 53, of Victoria Avenue, off London Road, said: "It absolutely should stay in the Worcester area. There's likely to be deterioration in the service and response times will not be as good as they should be. It's bound to lead to a less efficient service."

Shirely Houghton, aged 52, of Bromyard Road, St John's, said: "I think it's really terrible. We need our ambulances being run from here. People will be dying if the people who run it don't know the area."

Joanne Thomas, aged 30, of Westbourne Close, St John's, said: "It's appalling, absolutely terrible, especially for the elderly. They seem to be moving everything in Worcester, even the post office. People don't think about these things until they actually need them. I'm very concerned about it."

Mick Burrows, aged 61, of Honeywood Road, St John's, Worcester, said: "If the ambulance people feel it's not right then the public must take notice of them. They're the people doing the job. If they feel it's going to make the services below par then we must take note."

Paul Williams, aged 61, of Blakefield Road, St John's, said: "It's a trend of centralisation which runs against what Gordon Brown is now trying to do - get things back out to the community. Centralisation doesn't always mean efficiency. This sounds more like a Tony Blair idea than a Gordon Brown idea."

The fate of the centre will be decided on Tuesday, October 9, when the trust board is expected to make a decision.

A spokesman for the Trust said the plans would almost double the number of call centre staff in the West Midlands from 62 to 110, allowing 95 per cent of calls to be answered within five seconds.

He added: "It's clearly an emotional issue but we want people to find out the facts of the situation rather than just assuming that services will be reduced locally."