AMBULANCE bosses have defended claims that plans for a shake-up of ambulance services in rural areas are cost-cutting measures.

Representatives of the North-East Ambulance Service (NEAS) listened to residents of Teesdale and Weardale who had concerns over plans to replace rural ambulance services with community paramedics.

At the meeting, organised by the Wear Valley and Teesdale Community Networks, at the Manor House Hotel in West Auckland, Douglas McDougall, the out-of-hours development manager for NEAS, assured people that the plans would improve services in local areas and was not about saving money.

NEAS is considering using one-man community paramedic services to ensure a round-the-clock response in Teesdale and Weardale.

The community paramedics would replace ambulance crews, which are currently based at Barnard Castle, Middleton-in-Teesdale and St Johns Chapel, who operate a stand-by system overnight. A number of people at the meeting said that losing the ambulances could end up costing lives as people would not be able to get to hospital quickly.

One woman, from Cowshill, in Weardale, who did not want to be named, said: "Are the lives of people in rural areas less important than lives in cities and towns?"

Mr McDougall said the community paramedics would be able to offer life-saving treatment more quickly and, in serious cases, an ambulance would be dispatched along with the community paramedic.

The chairman of the Wear Valley Community Network, John Kirkby, said: "The message that we're trying to get across is that we're very concerned about these proposals and there's a lot of scepticism about whether this is for the good of the patient."

NEAS is discussing the proposals with various groups and Mr McDougall said there would be a formal consultation process where people's views would be taken on board.