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The Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GWAS) is UK National Health Service (NHS) trust providing emergency and non emergency patient transport services to Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire in the South West England region. It was formed on April 1, 2006 from the merger of the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire ambulance services.
It is one of 12 Ambulance Trusts providing England with free Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for its role.
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Operations
Its headquarters is at Jenner House, Chippenham, Wiltshire.
One of the trust's three control rooms, the Avon Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre (EMDC) at Acuma House, Almondsbury, is recognised as a Centre of Excellence for emergency call handling and dispatch. One of the EMDC team received the International EMD of the Year Award.
In common with all UK ambulance services, the control rooms triage and categorises 999 calls into three categories - A, B, and C. Category A are potentially life or limb threatening emergencies requiring an immediate response. Category B are non life threatening emergencies. Category C require an emergency response and are deployed to either an urgent care nurse or to an Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP). [1]
Avon hosts the south-west's primary Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) terrorist response capability and has been praised for its well governed and effective First Response scheme.
Performance
999 calls to the service have doubled in the last ten years. [1]
The Department of Health lays down performance targets [1]-
- to reach 75% of immediately life threatening emergencies (category A) within 8 minutes
- to reach 50% of non life threatening emergencies (category B) within 8 minutes
- to reach 95% of all emergencies within 14 minutes
- where a doctor requests an ambulance for a patient under the Doctors' Urgent Standard, to deliver 95% of patients within 15 minutes of request
As of 2007, the service failed to meet the targets. [1]
Strategy
The Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the Ambulance Service plan to increase the number of Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP) and nurses skilled in urgent care assessment to generate a reduction in the number of people transported by ambulance to an emergency department. [1]
History
Formed on April 1, 2006 from the merger of the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire ambulance services, the trust had a difficult start, marked by redundancies, training centre and ambulance station closures, strained industrial relations with its recognised union and attacks from the local media in addition to facing losing its non-emergency Patient Transport Services (PTS) contracts to private contractors.
Vehicle fleet
Avon
- PTS & HDU - Renault Master
- A&E - Mercedes Sprinter
- RRV - Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra
Gloucestershire
- PTS & A&E - Renault Master
- RRV - Renault Scenic
Wiltshire
- PTS & A&E - Renault Master
- A&E - Mercedes Sprinter
- RRV - Renault Megane, Vauxhall Astra, Honda CRV
- ECP - Vauxhall Zafira
Trivia
The fictional Holby Ambulance Service from the television show Casualty based uniform and vehicles on the former Avon Ambulance Service, who used to cover the Bristol area, where the show is filmed.
See also
References
- (April 2007). "Improving Ambulance Response Times". Department of Health.
- (April 2007). "Operational Plan 2007/2008" (PDF). Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
External links
- Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust
- UNISON Great Western Ambulance Branch, the voice for over 600 GWAS staff
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