Brian Coleman calls for fire and ambulance services to be merged (From Times Series)

Odd isn't it that Coleman has been in charge of the Fire brigade for all this time and he's only just come up with this idea, just before the GLA election?

funny that?

No doubt with the money saved he will give himself a big fat payrise at the expense of the council taxpayers.

I am flabbergasted and spitting nails.
With ludicrous ideas like this, maybe it's time he retired. Roll on May 3rd!!!

Too right rosemary - roll on May 3rd when Coleman and the Job Centre can be merged!

Rosemary and Barnet Parker, I have said for years I do not know how Coleman stays in the job, as an ex barnetonian the best thing you can do on May 3rd is to give him the order of the boot,along with the rest of his cronies, his only claim to fame, in my opinion, is to ruin what used to be a lovely place to live.

This is frankly nonesense and Coleman should know better. Not sure how the maths works as the savings Coleman suggests exceed the total annual budgets of both organisations combined. The delivery model in France and America is very different to that in the UK and the ambulance service is a key part of the NHS. If he is so keen on merger perhaps the ambulance service should take over the fire brigade - after all LAS attend the same amount of emergencies in a month as LFB do in a year!

Not all EMS is merged into the fire service in the US. I have found that the EMS services that did merge into the fire service did not improve. The crews were not welcomed by the fire service and had no way of promotion. The level of care once the fire service took over deminished. The money that once went to EMS now is being drawn off and put into other areas that suit the fire service and EMS is now the money making step child of the fire service. If they want to put the ambulances in the fire stations they can do so without making the ambulance service part of the fire service. But then the fire service would want to start getting rent for housing the crews and units. The seperate EMS service is the way to go if you want crews that their only mission is to provide the best EMS to the citizens. Once the fire service takes it over then you get a lot of lip service about it being the best but not a lot of show and the money goes elsewhere in the budget instead of for EMS. You get firefighters who are made to ride the ambulance that never wanted to do this so you can see how that will affect level of care. In my state the majority of EMS is provided by private providers or seperate EMS. Only four areas in the state are covered by fire service EMS. If the LAS is providing state of the art and top of the line EMS then why change it. I know in the states it is about the fire service trying to get more money and justifing more jobs when they take over the EMS. Not patient care.