Do you think that this makes response times increase or decrease ? It does both source I ' m a retired sales engineer from a medical device device mfg that sold directly into countyregional EMS units for ~ 15 years . The reality is that some closures are necessary in order to redistribute resources in order to better server others for the greater good . Of course some closures happen because the cost is greater than the provided benefit . Budgeting 101 stuff . You have 100 surgeons . You get rid of the 30 worst performing surgeons . Does the work load on the remaining 70 go up or down ? The workload probably improves for the 70 as they are no longer carrying the weightload of the 30 slackers . Of course that is all hypothetical , I ' m sure there are cases where the morale of cuts would affect remaining personnel , as well as cases where deadwood removal benefited bottom line . Without specifics it ' s all just guesses .