UPPER Wensleydale and Swaledale will have 24-hour ambulance cover from October at the latest, top health officials have confirmed.

The service will also be boosted by a rapid response vehicle on call 14 hours a day and manned jointly by professionals and community team members.

The new ambulance station at Bainbridge, near Hawes, should be complete by March next year, bringing twenty-first century accommodation for a range of emergency and community services serving Wensleydale and neighbouring Swaledale.

Trevor Molton, chief executive of Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said recruitment of the eight extra staff needed to provide 24-hour cover had begun.

Some were likely to come from other ambulance trusts while others would be new recruits who would then undergo training. Cover would increase in phases as new staff were brought in, reaching 24-hour, seven-day cover by the autumn.

"We can't yet put a date on 24-hour cover but it will be no later than October this year," said Mr Molton. "I hope it will be a lot earlier."

The extended cover costs about £300,000 a year and is funded by the Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust, which came into being on April 1.

Chris Long, PCT chief executive, said the Bainbridge ambulance service epitomised what the new organisation set out to achieve.

"Our major agenda is about bringing health care to the people and this is a key element in delivering that and reassuring rural people that the health services are not forgetting about them," he said.

The community response team, which will operate the rapid response vehicle, is one of several to be set up across North Yorkshire. Others are due to go ahead at Richmond, Reeth, Leyburn, Bedale and Catterick.

Members of the public who are interested in first aid and health care can apply to be trained as team members. They must be physically fit and have good driving skills.

Mr Molton said plans for the new ambulance station on the former Preston's garage site at Bainbridge were in the final stages and should go before the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority planning committee in June. If approved, building work could start in September and the station could be in operation by March.

He stressed that the provision of 24-hour cover did not depend on the new station being available but said it would vastly improve working conditions for staff.