If special testing is not required, a problem might only be detected when the equipment was needed for an actual emergency, according to the proposal.

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Mr. Catsimatidis has since repeated the idea, coupling it with a proposal to link the emergency response system to global-positioning-system trackers that police would carry to improve response times.

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Mr Wells has claimed the trust's attempts at recruiting doctors have been "half-hearted" and that GPs are angry at a proposal which could see them running Downe Hospital's emergency department at night.

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But the usual fate of such ideas is that they die once the emergency passes, or are ignored even if they survive the journey from proposal to policy.

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