Dr Sarah Wollaston arrived at Kingsbridge Community College last night to around 25 protestors holding signs that read "Cuts Cost Lives".

Dr Wollaston, MP for the Totnes constituency, had called the meeting with the chief executive of South Western Ambulance Service Trust, to address local concerns about the removal of the Rapid Response Vehicles from the South Hams.

The meeting, organised by Dr Wollaston who invited Ken Wenman, chief executive of SWAST, and two of his colleagues, Steve Boucher and Neil Le Chevalier, took place at Kingsbridge Community College on Wednesday, July 26.

Issues raised included response times for ambulances, the role of volunteer Community First Responders, the narrow roads in some of the South Hams - including Dartmouth - that an ambulance physically can’t fit down, and the under-funding of the NHS.

SWAST chief executive Ken Wenman consistently said that the ambulance service was "under-resourced" and were trying to make the resources they had work as well as they could. Dr Wollaston admitted that SWAST were dealing with a 2.3 per cent cut in funding per call.

For the full story, see the paper this Friday, or you can watch the whole meeting in the video below, apologies for one of the SWAST guys getting in the way of the camera at the beginning.