East_Midlands_Ambulance_Service

East Midlands Ambulance Service

East Midlands Ambulance Service

UK public sector ambulance service for the East Midlands region of England


The East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) provides emergency medical services, urgent care and patient transport services for the 4.8 million people within the East Midlands region of the UK - covering Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire (except Glossop, Hadfield and Tintwistle), Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire (including North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire) and Northamptonshire. It was formed in 1999 by amalgamating several county ambulance services,[1] and in July 2006 was dissolved and reformed under the same name as part of a nationwide reorganisation of ambulance service provision.[2][3]

Two of the vehicles operated by the East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Quick Facts Type, Established ...

Performance

In 201617, EMAS received over 938,837 emergency 999 calls with ambulance clinicians dispatched to 653,215 incidents.[4]

EMAS employs about 3,290 staff at more than 70 locations, including two control rooms at Nottingham and Lincoln - the largest staff group are those who provide accident and emergency responses to 999 calls.[4]

In 2013, EMAS took on 140 new emergency care assistants.[5] In 2014, EMAS announced they were bringing back the ambulance technician role.[6]

In 201011, EMAS missed key performance targets after a cold spell brought snow and ice.[7] By June 2015, EMAS had failed to meet their category 1 response times for the fifth successive year.[8]

In December 2019, ambulance staff spent 13,057 hours waiting at hospitals for the pre-handover of patients, more than double the time spend in December 2018.[9]

CQC performance rating

In its last inspection of the service in April 2019, 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):

More information Area, 2016 Rating ...

Funding

EMAS previously provided patient transport services until contracts worth £20 million per year were taken over in 2012 by two private sector companies.[13] In 2012−13, EMAS had a budget of £148M.[14] The trust spent £4.3M on voluntary and private ambulance services in 201314 for support in busy periods.[15]

In 2015, the service also faced a drop in annual funding of around £6M.[16]

In October 2014, the trust decided to spend £88,000 on upgrading its computer equipment.[17]

In 2018, the trust said it would need an extra £20M a year to meet the new ambulance performance standards.[18]

Controversy

In 2022 "demoralised and downtrodden" staff strike.[19]

In 2023, the service were criticised for quoting a 6 hour wait time for an emergency response for an unwell child who went into cardiac arrest.[20]

See also


References

  1. "The East Midlands Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust (Establishment) Order 1999". gov.uk.
  2. East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (30 June 2018). "East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust - Overview". nhs.uk. NHS. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  3. "Trust's ambulance crews lose 18 months waiting at hospitals". Health Service Journal. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  4. "Nearly £8 million cost of private ambulances to cope with 999 demand". Leicester Mercury. 30 January 2015. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  5. Crowson, Isaac (31 October 2015). "Nigel Mills MP demands 'urgent action' from East Midlands Ambulance Service over response times". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  6. "New computer systems for Nottinghamshire's ambulance service after 42,000 patients' files lost". Nottingham Post. 30 October 2014. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  7. "Ambulance trusts demand millions to meet new targets". Health Service Journal. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  8. "Father of severely ill boy told ambulance would be six hours". BBC News. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.

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