West Midlands Ambulance Service

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.[1]

On 1 October 2007 the service merged with Staffordshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust.[1][2]

It became an NHS foundation trust on 1 January 2013.[3]

It was announced on 14 November 2018, that the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust had gone into partnership with the University of Wolverhampton to form the UK's first university-ambulance trust. It has since signed similar agreements with Staffordshire University, Coventry University, the University of Worcester and The University of Warwick. As a result, the trust has changed its name to West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust.[4] [5]

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.[6]

In 2017 it got an outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission - the only ambulance trust in England to do so. This has been continued with a new CQC report in 2019 improving its outstanding status.[7]

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:[8] 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. WMAS now operates one of the most sophisticated dispatch systems in the country from two Emergency Operations Centres based at Millenium Point, Brierley Hill (Trust HQ) and Tollgate Drive, Stafford. They operate as a single virtual EOC so waiting calls at either of the Trusts two EOCs can be answered by the other. This increases the speed at which vehicles can be dispatched.

As of 2019, the trust had over 450 emergency ambulances with a similar number of non-emergency patient transport service vehicles.

• 465 Double Crewed Emergency Response Ambulances
• The Trust now only has a handful of Rapid Response Vehicles (all 4x4 capable) which are now mainly used by managers and specialist resources.
• Patient Transport Service vehicles - these are non emergency-capable vehicles without Emergency Equipment fitted used for transporting patients to/from/between medical treatment facilities and patients home addresses. There is also a fleet of ‘high dependency’ vehicles that carry basic medical equipment including a defibrillator, oxygen and a basic heart monitor.
• 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
• The Trust does not use either voluntary aid societies such as St John and Red Cross or private ambulance.
• 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. It also has access to both the Warwickshire & Northampton Air Ambulance and the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance, both operated by The Air Ambulance Service
• 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.

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