North West Ambulance Service
The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) was formed in 2006 by the merger of Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside, and Cumbria and Lancashire ambulance services. Its principle operations are the provision of emergency medical response, provision of patient transportation services, and response to major incidents.
- It employs 4900 staff.
- It receives 1,170,000 emergency calls, responds to 952,000 incidents, and transports 800,000 emergency patients to further care each year, accounting for approximately 16% of national activity.
- It conducts 1.1 million non-emergency patient transportations each year.
- It does so from 109 ambulance stations, supplied by 3 Emergency Operations Centres, 2 Patient Transport Control centres and 2 Hazardous Area Response Team Stations.
- It serves a population of approximately 7 million, over an area of approximately 5,400 square miles.
NWAS' core values and aims are compatible with those expected of a publicly funded health care provider. NWAS considers its full range of values as:
The spectrum of values is succinctly enveloped by NWAS' embrace of the principles of the 'Right Care, Right Time, Right Place' public information drive, the ultimate endeavour of which is simply to provide the utmost appropriate care.
- patient focus
- honesty
- respect
- listening
- professionalism
- confidentiality
- fairness
- learning
- challenge
- collective responsibility
- self awareness
The spectrum of values is succinctly enveloped by NWAS' embrace of the principles of the 'Right Care, Right Time, Right Place' public information drive, the ultimate endeavour of which is simply to provide the utmost appropriate care.
NWAS's contemporary issues include:
- the renewed effort towards obtaining foundation trust status in the context of continued devolution of health care services in England.
- refining the scope and functions of the relatively recent exploration of a 'clinical leadership' model in the introduction of Senior and Advanced Paramedics.
- Urgent Care, NHS 111 services, and the Paramedic Pathfinder tool are explorative, structured means of providing non-emergency response and treatment.
- recent updates to major trauma network and management strategies