THE case for merging the region’s ambulance service to create one ‘super’ organisation across the whole South West has been put before South Gloucestershire Council.

Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) director of nursing, Liam Williams, held a frank discussion with members of the authority’s health scrutiny select committee.

He said GWAS had to make changes to meet a government requirement that all services become foundation trusts, or join an existing one, by 2014.

"We are a £87million organisation," he said. "That is not sustainable. Because we are relatively small we have high costs. We need to be £120million plus."

GWAS is proposing a merger with the South West Ambulance Service Trust, which covers Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, and admits the acquisition would lead to senior job losses.

Mr Williams said: "We have really had to think about the future of the service. We are one of the smallest in England and because of that we have had challenges recruiting and retaining chief executives and senior staff.

"We did not feel becoming a stand alone foundation trust was achievable and so we need a partner. We chose SWAST because we have a degree of synergy, with many shared priorities and there is a high level of understanding about how the organisations need to work together."

He added: "We need to become a more robust organisation. It is about getting the most efficient, effective service for the tax payer and we think creating a single ambulance service will deliver that."

Mr Williams said the merger would involve huge amounts of planning taking into account rural areas and patient transfer services. He said it was likely the SWAST headquarters in Exeter would not move location but the regional organisation would need to engage with people across the whole areas.

Cllr Sue Hope (Lib Dem, Cotswold Edge) said: "I am concerned about the response times in rural areas.

"GWAS has really made great steps improving the service in recent years and I don’t want to see that bubble burst at all. I want to see it improve further."

Cllr Shirley Holloway (Lib Dem, Thornbury South and Alveston) said: "I have a natural fear of something as large as this but I suppose the proof will be in the pudding.

"I can’t quite see why the logistics will be better if it is larger."

Public consultation will take place later this year.