PATIENTS? lives will be put in danger by proposed changes in ambulance cover, paramedics in Tavistock this week claimed. At present, Tavistock has two emergency vehicles. Under Westcountry Ambulance Trust?s Agenda for Change proposals, the town will lose its second emergency vehicle for ten hours every day. It will leave just a single-manned rapid response car between the hours of 2am and 6am. Adrian Barrell, who worked as a paramedic in Tavistock for 20 years, was asked by ambulance station staff to speak to the Times about their grave concerns. Mr Barrell said: ?This is a small town, we are involved in the local community ? it?s our friends and families being put in peril. ?I?m not saying this to be emotive, it is a fact ? everyone is extremely concerned.? Mr Barrell said Tavistock paramedics attended a wide variety of emergencies in very rural areas overnight, which could take them away from base for a considerable length of time. ?The feeling is the service will be totally inadequate ? inevitably the quality of patient care will suffer, inevitably lives will be put at risk,? he said. Mr Barrell said staff were also concerned at single person emergency cover overnight. ?Even the police go out in pairs. You need two people, not necessarily for treating the patient, but to calm sometimes hysterical relatives. ?You might be dealing with a violent drug addict who has overdosed among a group of friends. And domestic situations can be extremely violent these days ? this can be a hazard for staff.? He said until now, staff interrupted meal breaks during emergencies. Under the new proposals, they will not be told about emergencies during meal breaks, which will be dealt with by a ?first aid responder?. Ian Hopkins, Unison branch secretary, said Agenda for Change was ?bound to have an impact on patient care? and that single-crewed response vehicles would result in increased stress for patients, their families and staff alike. He said because Okehampton Ambulance Station faced a similar situation, the whole mid-Devon area would be affected. He urged people to write to their MP in an effort to block the changes. Westcountry Ambulance Trust says under Agenda for Change, more than £7-million will be invested in ambulance staff pay over the coming year. Other enhancements include a shorter working week, reduced shift hours and increased annual leave. Kate Smith, trust spokesman, insisted patient care would not be adversely affected by the changes: ?There is no way we would take a decision that would affect care in that way.? She said a two-man crew was always sent to incidents involving heart attacks or drug overdoses. ?We appreciate staff might be concerned at an apparent drop in cover, but actually, it?s not going to change that much. ?A rapid response car can do absolutely everything an ambulance can do, apart from transport a patient lying down, and cars are sometimes faster because they are more nimble,? said Ms Smith. ?We don?t actually get many calls between 2am and 6am and we would be accused of wasting resources if we were to put our full allocation on at that time. ?We have spent 18 months looking at demand figures and volume of calls. It?s not a decision we have taken lightly and we have worked closely with Unison throughout,? she said.