Like many others, I attended the presentation ‘discussion’ evening on Wednesday, July 26, about the withdrawal of the rapid-response vehicle from Kingsbridge. I believed – from both the July 14 Gazette and from the presentation – that we were to be left with only one double-manned ambulance.

The report on the public meeting the following Gazette, July 28’s, suggests that the RRV is being replaced with a ­“double-manned vehicle”. This would bring Kingsbridge back to a sensible cover of two ­emergency vehicles. I suspect that the Gazette reporter has not got the right end of the stick and has made an inaccurate report of the proceedings.

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust delegation did well in trying to put our minds at ease by stating that, despite a large increase in 999 calls, we are well covered by a single double-manned ambulance, which when engaged in the removal of a patient to either Derriford or Torbay would be backed up by “other resources in the South Hams”. This, of course, relies on the “other resources” being available and not having been cut back to the bone.

SWAST chief executive Mr Ken Wenman told us that red calls, or category A, would be responded to immediately, with an ambulance responding within eight minutes. The people of Prawle will be very comforted.

Category A calls, we are told, are defined by someone not breathing or suffering a cardiac arrest. In either case, eight ­minutes is too long, and even the best-trained paramedic has little chance of recovering the patient.

We were told that 30 per cent of calls are “sometimes” life-threatening, maybe as a result of an accident. These patients are not treated as very urgent any longer and can wait… ­presumably for two hours!

Mr Neil Chevalier, being a control officer of long standing, knows very well that areas of the South Hams – Kingsbridge, from my own experience – are not being backed up and are left for many hours without any emergency cover. As indeed was the case while the gentleman from the SWAST was reassuring us of the available cover.

You can make statistics show anything you want them to, but the fact remains that the emergency cover is now below what it was 40 years ago, and with a huge increase in demand.

I refer you to my letter in the Gazette of July 14.

I appreciate that it is difficult for those in charge of the SWAST having to make cuts when they are so grossly underfunded by the Government, but please do not try to make it sound as though we are better off.

It must be very frustrating for our MP Sarah Wollaston trying to mitigate the actions of her government, which puts profit over suffering, and indeed lives. We deserve better.

John Peacock

Kenwith Drive, Kingsbridge

* The Gazette apologises if the report was unclear last week. The Kingsbridge area currently has a single-crewed ambulance and an RRV. The latter is being removed and the RRV paramedic has been transferred to the ambulance, making it a double-crewed vehicle. There is no cut in staff, rather a cut in the number of vehicles.