Ambulance services trust

An ambulance services trust or ambulance trust is an organisation which provide ambulance services within the National Health Services of England and Wales.[1] There are currently 11 ambulance services trusts in England and Wales.[2][3] Ambulance services in Scotland are run by the Scottish Ambulance Service and in Northern Ireland by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust.[3]

The National Ambulance Resilience Unit, which provides support to all the ambulance trusts, was established in summer 2011 and is based in Oldbury, West Midlands.[4]

History

Further information: NHS ambulance services

Following consultation, on 1 July 2006 the number of ambulance trusts fell from 29 to 13.[2] The reduction can be seen as part of a trend dating back to 1974, when English local authorities ceased to be providers of ambulance services. This round of reductions in the number of trusts originated in the June 2005 report "Taking healthcare to the Patient", authored by Peter Bradley, Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Service, for the Department of Health.[5] Most of the trusts followed government office regional boundaries. Exceptions included Staffordshire Ambulance Service (which had a temporary reprieve), the Isle of Wight (where provision remained with the island's primary care trust), South East Coast Ambulance Service, and South Central Ambulance Service. There have been two ambulance services trust mergers since 2006.[2]

Since 2013, the 11 ambulance trusts in England and Wales have been:[3]

Trust	Area(s)	2006	2007	2013	Notes
East Midlands Ambulance Service	Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland	●	●	●
East of England Ambulance Service	Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk	●	●	●
Great Western Ambulance Service	n/a	●	○	○	Merged into South Western Ambulance Service on 1 February 2013
London Ambulance Service	Greater London	●	●	●
North East Ambulance Service	County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and the area of the former county of Cleveland in North Yorkshire	●	●	●
North West Ambulance Service	Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside	●	●	●
South Central Ambulance Service	Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, and Oxfordshire	●	●	●
South East Coast Ambulance Service	Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey, and North East Hampshire	●	●	●
South Western Ambulance Service	Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, and Wiltshire	●	●	●
Staffordshire Ambulance Service	n/a	●	●	○	Merged into West Midlands Ambulance Service on 1 October 2007
West Midlands Ambulance Service	Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, and Worcestershire	●	●	●
Yorkshire Ambulance Service	East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire	●	●	●
Welsh Ambulance Service	Wales	●	●	●

In addition, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, provides ambulance services for the Isle of Wight.

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 May 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "Secondary legislation relating to ambulance services". legislation.gov.uk. Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
3. "Structure of the UK Ambulance Services". aace.org.uk. Association of Ambulance Chief Executives. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
4. "About us". naru.org.uk. National Ambulance Resilience Unit. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
5. Bradley, Peter (30 June 2005). "Taking Healthcare to the Patient: Transforming NHS Ambulance Services" (PDF). aace.org.uk. Department of Health. Retrieved 28 April 2020.