Yorkshire Ambulance Service welcomes boost to funding

Following the Department of Health’s announcement of extra funding for ambulance services to update and expand their fleet of emergency ambulances, Rod Barnes, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, responded to the news:

“This is fantastic news for patients and a very welcome investment of £5.64 million at the Trust for our fleet of emergency ambulances which cover more than 14 million miles a year responding to over 780,000 incidents.

“With increased demand and the introduction of the new national Ambulance Response Programme (ARP) response time standards, we need more vehicles able to convey patients to hospital and local healthcare facilities. This boost to funds means that we can now introduce 62 new ambulances at pace.

“In addition, we will be receiving £1.948 million to introduce an ambulance vehicle preparation service in two of our ambulance stations in West Yorkshire. This is an exciting development which will see our ambulances cleaned and re-stocked by a dedicated team ready for ambulance clinicians to take out at the start of their shifts.

“Having additional funding for these vital elements of our service is a massive boost and will ensure our patients receive the best care appropriate to their needs.”