The end of The Service as we know it.

Well today is the end of the Ambulance Service as we know it. Our stations are to be closed and new super stations, or "Hubs" are to be built. I have a 40 mile round trip to work and my fella has a 70 mile one, each will now increase significantly. This means that we will pick the trucks up from the hubs and be out all day, going to little "spokes" or portacabins to have a wee if we're lucky. It's also meant to mean that we will hit more targets, what the chief seems to fail to understand is that crews are out all day anyway and still don't hit the targets. We've also got to bring sickness down. Lift staff morale. Keep on top of the audits. Fix the broken trucks that have 300k+ miles on the clock. Keep up tough book compliance. Sweep the floor as you go. This all needs to start at grass roots level. The big stick culture doesn't work, crews pick their trucks up at 0600, go out straight away on a job without getting a chance to check their kit, job after job after job. No getting back to station for a drink, we're at them to speed up handover times at A&E so they can get out to the next patient, they get their only break of the day 10 hours in to a 12 hour shift and then go straight out to be made late off because their local hospital has been turned into a Minor Injury Unit and the nearest receiving hospital is 20+ miles away with 5 crews in front of them waiting to handover. 2 hours late off and another 3 day shifts to go. Will enforcing 8 hour shifts improve morale? I doubt it. But you know what? We keep doing it because it's what we do. It's a part of us, and when this chief fails, like they all have, one day, someone might, just might realise that beating us down with the big stick simply won't work.