West Midlands Ambulance Service

West Midlands Ambulance Service
WMAS
The NHS corporate identity logo of West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust
Area served by West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Created	1st July 2006
Made foundation	January 2013
Headquarters	Brierley Hill, England
Region served	Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Coventry, Birmingham and Black Country
NHS region	NHS England
Area size	>5,000 sq miles
Population	5.6 million
Type	NHS foundation trust
Budget	£227 million
Chair	Sir Graham Medlum OBE, OStJ
Chief Exec	Dr Anthony C Marsh
Number of employees	around 4,500
Website	www.wmas.nhs.uk

The West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (WMAS) is the second-largest ambulance service in the UK. It is the authority responsible for providing NHS ambulance services in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The trust won the contract for non-emergency patient transport services in Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral previously provided by the North West Ambulance Service in 2015. It transferred in July 2016.^[1] The trust is currently under the leadership of chief executive Dr Anthony Marsh and chair Sir Graham Medlum OBE, OStJ. It is one of 10 Ambulance Trusts providing England with Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service. There is no charge to patients for use of the service.

WMAS was one of the highest performing ambulance services in England and one of only two to exceed all of its national performance targets in 2006-07. It employs around 4,500 staff and is supported by about 1,000 volunteers, over 63 sites, and makes over 450,000 emergency responses every year.

The trust is currently the best performing ambulance service in the NHS, being graded Outstanding by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors in January 2017 and the only ambulance service to meet Government targets.

History

The trust was formed on 1 July 2006, following the merger of the Hereford & Worcester Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Coventry & Warwickshire Ambulance NHS Trust, and WMAS and Shropshire services.^[2] On 1 October 2007 the service merged with Staffordshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust.^[2][3] It became an NHS foundation trust on 1 January 2013.^[4]

Performance

In the 2017-18 contract negotiations with Clinical commissioning groups,where Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG negotiated on behalf of all the West Midlands CCGs the trust sought financial compensation for the delays to ambulances caused by patient handover delays at local hospitals. WMAS wanted a “full second tariff” on top of the standard tariff for delays over 60 minutes, and “a smaller second tariff” for delays over 30 minutes, which would have come to around £6 million. After mediation by NHS England and NHS Improvement it was agreed to pay the trust an additional £2.1m in 2017-18. Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust were singled out as the main culprits.^[5]

In 2017 it got an outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission - the only ambulance trust to do so.^[6]

Emergency Operations Centres

Following the merger of the trusts, WMAS inherited a number of standalone control rooms. This resulted in 5 centres spread across the region operating independently using varying levels of technology at sites:^[7] Millennium Point, Brierley Hill, Tollgate Drive, Stafford, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Bransford, Worcester and Dale St, Leamington Spa. On 28 November 2007, the Trust agreed to go ahead with proposals for the reconfiguration of its Emergency Operations Centres, despite vocal protests from the public. WMAS now operates from two Emergency Operations Centres based at Millenium Point, Brierley Hill (Trust HQ) and Tollgate Drive, Stafford. It also operates a virtual EOC so waiting calls at either of the Trusts two EOCs can be answered by the other, even if the call isn't designated to that control room. This increases the speed at which vehicles can be dispatched.

Resources

As of 2015, the trust had over 400 vehicles, including patient transport services vehicles, rapid response vehicles, motorcycle response units, and of course ambulance crews.

• 402 Emergency Response Ambulances
• 108 Rapid Response Vehicles (made up of various 4x4 models and estate cars)
• 263 Patient Transport Service vehicle - these are non emergency-capable vehicles without Emergency Equipment fitted used for transporting patients to/from/between medical treatment facilities and patients home addresses
• 31 Major Incident vehicles, used to support large-scale incidents where multiple ambulances may be overwhelmed or there is the requirement for a co-ordinated response across Emergency Response services.

In addition to the fleet, the Service has several specialist teams available should the requirement arise

• The Medical Emergency Response Intervention Team (MERIT) are a Critical Care Paramedic and Trauma Doctor responding to emergencies in a Rapid Response Vehicle.
• See Hazardous Area Response Team
• In times of emergency, WMAS also requests assistance from voluntary ambulance providers, such as St John Ambulance.^[8] St John Ambulance (SJA) also provides 'A&E Support' crews at times when there is a high level of staff absence or there is an unusually high call volume. This arrangement sees SJA crews attending Emergency or Non-Emergency calls. SJA crews may treat and transport certain categories of patient, although they are expected to ask for further assistance for more serious patients.
• WMAS can dispatch any of 3 air ambulances from the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, carrying a specially trained doctor and critical care paramedic at all times.
• West Midlands Ambulance Service are supported by several BASICS-affiliated charities, who provide volunteer doctors and nurses to support the regular ambulance service staff at more serious incidents.
• On some evenings and all weekends, support for front-line crews is provided by the West Midlands CARE Team. The CARE Team is a volunteer group of BASICS doctors and nurses, conveyed in a specially equipped fast response car by a paramedic officer to provide advanced medical care at the scene of an incident.
• In Herefordshire and Worcestershire, the Mercia Accident Rescue Service (MARS) is available to supplement and assist WMAS crews.
• North Staffordshire BASICS provide similar support in the north of the WMAS region.
• In times of severe weather, WMAS also has the ability to call on the Severn Area Rescue Association who have 4x4 ambulances.^[9]
• WMAS can dispatch Community First Responder, who are volunteers working in partnership with WMAS, to medical emergencies in their local communities. These schemes are located all throughout the West Midlands, mostly located in rural areas where response times are longer.

Localities

See also

See also

• Healthcare in Worcestershire
• List of NHS trusts

References

External links

• West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• West Midlands Care Team
• Mercia Accident Rescue Service