Unions have ripped apart plans to axe ambulance stations across Essex in a damning report.

The study, commissioned by Unison and the GMB and published on Friday, claims the proposed closure of 12 of the 31 stations in the county, would do nothing to improve response times.

And it is said that ambulance crews would suffer from the closures by being forced to work in poor conditions.

The controversial proposal is just one of four options being considered by Essex Ambulance Service in its Getting to Patients Faster consultation document.

The unions have called their study Option Five.

The informal consultation ends on June 30, and the service has stressed it is open-minded about the future.

Essex Ambulance Service said the closures would free up cash to pump back into the service and the introduction of 27 standby points from where to deploy ambulances would improve response times.

But the report, by the London Health Agency, slammed the proposals and stated patients would be subject to a postcode lottery.

It states: "What has been proposed is to close stations in 12 towns immediately and in most of the cases redeploy them nearer to the main areas of the population.

"This may improve average response times but will mean for many people the response times will be worse than they are now. That is not defensible."

The report also claims that in 13 of the 27 places crews will be working from where there are no facilities at all - a breach to health and safety regulations.

It states: "In the winter crews would have engines running, polluting the atmosphere and the air of the crew inside the cab."

A decision on the future of the service is expected to be made in July. Victoria Spurr, of the Essex Ambulance Service, said the report would be considered carefully.

She said: "The fact that some staff contributed to it means it is likely to have some valid points which will be taken into consideration.

"Obviously no decision has been made so the report is something that will be incorporated into the final proposals."

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