North West Ambulance Service

North West Ambulance Service
NWAS
Created 1 July 2006
Headquarters Bolton, England
Region served Greater Manchester, Cheshire Merseyside, Cumbria and Lancashire
NHS region NHS England
Area size 5,400 sq. miles
Population 7.1 million
Type NHS Trust
Chair Wyn Dignan
Chief Exec Michael Forrest (Interim)
Number of employees 5,200
Website www.nwas.nhs.uk

The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS), formerly 4 services (Cumbria Ambulance Service, Lancashire Ambulance Service, Cheshire and Mersey Ambulance Service and Greater Manchester Ambulance Service), was formed on 1 July 2006, as part of Health Minister Lord Warner's plans to reduce the number of NHS ambulance service trusts operating in the United Kingdom meaning that (NWAS) was given a bigger area to cover, making them the second largest in England [1]

NWAS ambulance on an emergency call
Response car on Market Street, Manchester

It is one of 10 Ambulance Trusts providing England with Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for its role. There is no charge to patients for use of the service, and under the Patient's charter, every person in the United Kingdom has the right to the attendance of an ambulance in an emergency.

Multiple images of an ambulance in the North West Ambulance Service at West Cumberland hospital

Based in Bolton, the new Trust provided services to almost 7 million people in Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire, Cumbria, and the North Western fringes of the High Peak district of Derbyshire (covering the towns of Glossop and Hadfield) in an area of some 5,500 square miles (14,000 km2). The trust lost the contract for non-emergency patient transport services in Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral. It will transfer to the West Midlands Ambulance Service in July 2016.[2]

They also operate the largest fleet of non-emergency patient transport ambulances in the UK, in 2013/2014 NWAS patient transport service ambulances transported 1.2 million people to hospital appointments across the region.

NWAS use Mercedes-Benz Sprinters or Fiat Ducatos as their standard emergency ambulance, Skoda Octavia estates as the main Rapid response car although since 2017 begun using BMW i3 electric cars [3] and use Renault Masters for Intermediate, Urgent care and Patient Transport vehicles.

The Trust currently operates from 114 ambulance stations and employs around 5,200 staff.

NWAS was the first ambulance trust to be inspected by the Care Quality Commission, in August 2014. The Commission found the trust provided safe and effective services which were well-led and with a clear focus on quality but it was criticised for taking too many callers to hospital and for sending ambulances when other responses would have been more appropriate.[4]

See also

References[5]

  1. ↑ "Where we are". nwas.nhs.uk. North West Ambulance Services. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "North West Ambulance Service loses contract to cover Cheshire". Chester Chronicle. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "Ambulance service looks to save millions by leasing BMW i3 electric vehicles". Contract hire and leasing. 27 Feb 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  4. ↑ "North West Ambulance Service gets mixed Care Quality Commission report". BBC News. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "North West Ambulance Service Website". North West Ambulance Service Website. NWAS. 2014-07-15.
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