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North West Ambulance Service

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North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust
NWAS
TypeNHS trust
Established1 July 2006
HeadquartersBolton[1]
Region servedGreater Manchester, Cheshire Merseyside, Cumbria, Lancashire and part of the High Peak district of Derbyshire
Area size5,400 sq. miles
Population7.5 million
Budget£310 million (Approx)
ChairPeter White
Chief executiveDaren Mochrie[2]
Staff5,912 (2018/19)[3]
Websitewww.nwas.nhs.uk Edit this at Wikidata

The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) is the ambulance service for North West England. It is one of ten ambulance trusts providing England with Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for its role.

NWAS was formed on 1 July 2006, following the merger of four previous services (Cumbria Ambulance Service; Lancashire Ambulance Service; Cheshire and Mersey Ambulance Service; and Greater Manchester Ambulance Service) as part of Health Minister Lord Warner's plans to combine ambulance services.[4]

Based in Bolton, the trust provides services to over 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 5,500 square miles (14,000 km2). NWAS provides emergency ambulance response via the 999 system, as well as operating the NHS 111 advice service for North West England.

They also operate non-emergency patient transport services (PTS) for part of the region, and in 2013/2014 carried out 1.2 million such journeys. Since 2016, the PTS in Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral has instead been carried out by West Midlands Ambulance Service.[5]

Fleet

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NWAS Fiat Ducato ambulance at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester in 2024
Skoda Octavia response car in 2017

NWAS utilise a mixed fleet of emergency and patient transport ambulances. As a member of the Northern Ambulance Alliance,[6] the trust shares a common fleet of Fiat Ducato dual crewed ambulances and Škoda Octavia and Volkswagen Passat rapid response cars.[7][8] In Greater Manchester, some paramedics respond on specially converted bicycles;[9] cycle responders were also trialled in Liverpool during the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.[10]

In 2017, NWAS began using 26 BMW i3 electric cars for use as rapid response vehicles.[11] The rollout of electric vehicles in the NWAS fleet expanded with the delivery of seven Mercedes-Benz eVito mental health ambulances in 2022.[12][13][14]

Locations and structure

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The trust currently operates from 104 ambulance stations across the North West.[15] The most northerly station is at Carlisle, and the furthest south is at Crewe. It also maintains three Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) for the handling of 999 calls and dispatch of emergency ambulances.

  • Parkway (Manchester Area)
  • Estuary Point (Cheshire and Mersey Area) – formerly Elm House
  • Broughton (Cumbria and Lancashire Area)

In 2017, NWAS signed an agreement to purchase a new EOC and area office for £2.9 million at Liverpool International Business Park next to Liverpool John Lennon Airport[16] As of 2019, this building has been converted and services have now migrated from the Anfield site.

Over recent years, the trust has combined many of their older ambulance stations into purpose-built facilities shared with other emergency services, including Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue, Lancashire Fire and Rescue and Greater Manchester Police.[17][18]

Performance

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NWAS was the first ambulance trust to be inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), in August 2014. The CQC 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.[19] The trust was subsequently inspected in 2018 and was found to have improved with a rating of "Good"[20]

CQC performance rating

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In its last inspection of the service in February 2020, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) gave the following ratings on a scale of outstanding (the service is performing exceptionally well), good (the service is performing well and meeting our expectations), requires improvement (the service isn't performing as well as it should) and inadequate (the service is performing badly):

Inspection Reports
Area Rating 2017[21] Rating 2018[20] Rating 2020[22]
Are services Safe? Requires improvement Good Good
Are services Effective? Good Good Good
Are services Caring Good Good Good
Are services Responsive Good Good Good
Are services Well-led Requires improvement Good Good
Overall rating Requires improvement Good Good

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Contact details - North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust". Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Meet the board".
  3. ^ "Annual Report 2018/19" (PDF). North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Where we are". nwas.nhs.uk. North West Ambulance Services. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  5. ^ "North West Ambulance Service loses contract to cover Cheshire". Chester Chronicle. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  6. ^ de Prez, Matt (22 March 2019). "Northern Ambulance Alliance saves £1m through joint procurement of fleet management system". FleetNews. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Greener ambulances to join North West Ambulance Service fleet". Emergency Service Times. 26 January 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  8. ^ Bogie, Andrew (20 February 2017). "Michelin CrossClimate+ rollout for North West Ambulance Service rapid responders". Tyre Press. Retrieved 13 October 2024. The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust has fit Michelin's CrossClimate+ to its 160-strong rapid response paramedic fleet of Škoda Octavias and Volkswagen Passats.
  9. ^ Crook, Amanda (16 April 2010). "Paramedics get on their bikes". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Cycle response ride the streets of Liverpool". North West Ambulance Service. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  11. ^ Thomason, Neil (27 February 2017). "Ambulance service looks to save millions by leasing BMW i3 electric vehicles". leasing.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  12. ^ Pye, Daniel (21 September 2022). "NHS rolls out Electric vehicles across North West". News & Star. Carlisle. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Award-winning mental health team benefits from new green addition". North West Ambulance Service. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  14. ^ Greensmith, Alex (17 May 2023). "Macclesfield: Ambulance leads the way in electric vehicles". Macclesfield News Nub. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  15. ^ "North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust - Where we are". www.nwas.nhs.uk. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  16. ^ "New home for Merseyside Ambulance staff". liverpoolecho. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  17. ^ "VIDEO: Take a look inside Lancaster's new community fire and ambulance station". www.lancasterguardian.co.uk. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Fire and ambulance services teaming up in new station". www.wigantoday.net. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  19. ^ "North West Ambulance Service gets mixed Care Quality Commission report". BBC News. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  20. ^ a b "North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust: Quality Report". Care Quality Commission. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  21. ^ "North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust: Quality Report". Care Quality Commission. 19 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  22. ^ "Provider: North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust". Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
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