A WOMAN has told how her father waited four hours for vital treatment after suffering a stroke in Welshpool.

Emma Pierce told of the incident at a meeting over the future of ambulance provision in Oswestry on Monday, called to address the impending closure of the town’s ambulance base.

She called for more funding to be provided for Community First Responders in Oswestry if the town’s ambulance station closes next Monday, and cited her own family’s experience.

She said: “We all know if you can’t get an ambulance, hopefully the paramedics are going to come to you – but if they’re not coming either, what’s going to happen?

“My dad had a stroke in Welshpool and waited four hours for an ambulance and by the time he got taken to Telford Hospital, he couldn’t have the medication to disperse the blood clot.

“My worry is that could be replicated in Oswestry now.”

Members of the public and councillors in attendance voiced concerns over what they perceived to be a lack of public engagement before the decision to close the site was made.

Lawrence Chapple-Gill, who launched the campaign with Sian Tasker, said the decision to close the site is ‘simply not good enough’.

He said: “We have a minor injuries unit which closes at 6pm, and now we’re about to lose this community ambulance service which is a decision that is opposed by the people it affects, but made by people it doesn’t affect at all.

“It’s simply not good enough and feels like a slap in the face for Oswestry.”

Murray Macgregor, a representative of WMAS, told the meeting: “Our response times in areas like Oswestry and the rural parts of Shropshire are not good enough – I think it’s important to say that.

“We want to do something about that. We’re very clear that we want to do as well as we possibly can whether we’re in a rural area or urban area.

“We need to do more and that’s one of the reasons why we need to make a change.

“Doing nothing is not an option.”