New fleet of ambulances unveiled to help with winter pressures
£75 million has been spent on the new fleet of ambulances in England
A new fleet of ambulances has been unveiled which will help strengthen the frontline response to health emergencies this winter, officials have said.
More than 500 ambulances, costing more than £75 million, have been distributed across England.
Officials said that the new fleet is the “biggest upgrade to the NHS ambulance fleet in recent years”.
The double-crew vehicles, which have hit the road ahead of schedule, are fitted with modern navigation technology and safety equipment.
The Department of Health and Social Care said that the rollout is already improving frontline care as ambulance breakdown rates have reduced since the vehicles have been deployed.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the Press Association: “Having a modern ambulance fleet is absolutely essential for making sure we improve our urgent and emergency care services.
“We came in to find an NHS that was not only broken by our predecessors, but often left crumbling, whether that’s the estate and kit, or indeed, our vehicles, and that’s why this investment really matters.
“The £75 million we’re putting in this year means 500 new ambulances, and not just new vehicles, but modern vehicles with the kind of technology and features that enables crews to work safely and efficiently, to give greater comfort to patients who are often going through a very distressing experience they’ll remember for the rest of their lives, making sure that we can turn ambulances around faster and get to more patients, that’s what this is about.
“We will continue to invest and modernise the NHS, so it’s not just back on its feet, fit for the future and well on the road to recovery.”
London Ambulance Service chief executive and chairman of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, Jason Killens, said: “Winter arrived early this year, but we have comprehensive plans in place to ensure we were ready to respond to patients.
“Part of that response means putting out extra ambulances like these.
“They are more reliable so they stay on the road where they are needed, come with a range of design features which improve patient care and staff safety, and as they are lighter, use less fuel and produce fewer emissions.
“These vehicles are an important part of the modernisation of ambulance fleets around the country to ensure we are able to meet the needs of patients not just this winter, but in the years ahead.”
The latest weekly snapshot of the performance of hospitals in England this winter has shown an improvement in the amount of time ambulances were queuing outside of hospitals.
Some 28% of patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England in the week ending December 14 waited at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams – down from 32% the previous week.
Some 9% of ambulance handovers in the week ending December 14, or 8,175 patients, were delayed by more than an hour, down from 12% the previous week.
Separate figures for November show the average response time for ambulances dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was eight minutes and one second.
This is unchanged from October and is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.
Ambulances took an average of 32 minutes and 46 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis.
This is up very slightly from 32 minutes and 37 seconds in October.
Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged two hours, two minutes and 19 seconds in November, slightly faster than two hours, four minutes and seven seconds in October.