AMBULANCE crews have voted to accept proposals for a major shake-up of services in the region.

The agreement of members of Unison and GMB mean that the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) can now go ahead with its plans.

The aim is to make more front-line paramedic-crewed A&E ambulances available to attend life-threatening emergency calls The NEAS said the changes will mean the region will gain an extra 67 ambulance staff and nine additional ambulances.

The key change is the creation of a new non-emergency tier to respond to the growing number of patients who are not 999 emergencies but still require a level of clinical care during transfers between hospitals or transport at the request of GPs.

It will mean some locations - such as Bishop Auckland and Durham City - will lose at least one double-crew paramedic ambulance but gain more urgent care ambulances.

Paul Liversidge, NEAS director of operations, said: "Our objective is to ensure a paramedic is sent to every 999 patient who needs one; that there are more front line paramedic-crewed A&E vehicles available for life-threatening emergency calls; and that we provide a service which allows us to meet the demand from non-emergency patients.

"It's nearly seven years since the last review, and the new changes represent an efficient and productive use of our resources."

The NEAS is currently responding to 76 per cent of life-threatening calls in less than eight minutes, The national target for all ambulance services is 75 per cent.

NEAS attends all life-threatening emergency calls within 19-minutes in 97 per cent of cases. The national target for this is 95 per cent.

The proposals are aimed at ensuring that response times continue to be met in the future against an increase in demand for 999 services.

Under the new arrangements, advanced technicians - who form part of an ambulance crew - have been offered paramedic training.

When the proposals were first announced in February 2012 NEAS bosses warned the public that some ambulance stations may have to move as part of new deployment patterns.

Unison and GMB were initially against the changes but they have now dropped their opposition.

The NEAS covers one of the largest areas of any ambulance service, from Berwick on the Scottish Borders to Brotton in East Cleveland.