The Trust serves a population of 5.6 million people covering an area of more than 5,000 square miles made up of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Coventry, Birmingham and Black Country conurbation. As well as our front-line 999 and Patient Transport Service (PTS) staff that you’ll see out and about across the Region, there’s a huge infrastructure and hundreds of support staff behind the scenes that help to provide a host of services to the West Midlands from control room staff, vehicle preparation operatives, mechanics and logistics to education, training, recruitment and HR as well as IT, finance, supplies, clinical distribution and communications. Below, you will find the portfolio of the services we provide.
999 (Emergency and Urgent) Service
This is the best known part of the Trust and deals with the emergency and urgent calls. This service is directed from the two Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) at Brierley Hill near Dudley, and Stafford and is where our call assessors answer 999 calls. EOC dispatchers will then send the most appropriate ambulance response to the patient or, if a patient doesn’t need an ambulance they will be given advice over the phone from a paramedic from within EOC. Our fleet and front-line staff respond from 15 ambulance hubs across the region. We are the only ambulance service to have a paramedic on every vehicle. With more than 460 ambulances, the Trust’s fleet has the highest percentage of traditional double-crewed ambulances in the country. Of those, 15 ambulances have 4×4 capability and all of our response cars are 4×4 capable too. As well as ambulances, all of our paramedic officers respond in 4×4 cars, we have access to five air ambulances, there are over 750 community first responders (CFRs) and other specialist resources such as the Trust’s Hazardous Area Response Team, doctors and mental health cars every single day.
Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS)
As well as dealing with ‘999’ emergency calls, West Midlands Ambulance Service plays a key role in getting thousands of patients to their out-patient appointments. Every year, our staff complete in the region of one million non-emergency Patient Transport Service (PTS) journeys. In many respects, this part of the organisation deals with some of the most seriously ill patients and crews are trained as patient carers. PTS journeys are booked and co-ordinated by dedicated control rooms based in Stafford, Coventry, Brierley Hill, Warrington and Frankley. The Trust employs nearly 900 PTS staff who ensure patients get to and from their hospital appointments throughout the region and beyond, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Maternity Services in the Pre-hospital Environment
Here you’ll find out what to expect when you contact 111/999 during pregnancy or childbirth. Whether you are jumping for joy, still in a state of shock, or feeling a mixture of both – you can rest assured that should an emergency arise West Midland’s Ambulance Service are here to support you every step of the way to help you have a healthy pregnancy.
Emergency Preparedness
This is a small but vitally important section of the organisation which deals with the Trust’s planning and response to significant and major incidents within the region as well as providing support for large gatherings such as football matches and festivals. It also aligns all the Trust’s Specialist Assets and Operations into a single structure. Such assets include the staff, equipment and vehicles from the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), Air Operations, Decontamination Staff and the Medical Emergency Response Intervention Team (MERIT). The department arranges ongoing training for staff and ensures the Trust understands and acts upon intelligence and identified risk to ensure the public are kept safe in the event of a major incident.
Community First Responders
Community First Responders (CFRs) are teams of volunteers who are trained by West Midlands Ambulance Service to a nationally recognised level and provide lifesaving treatment to people in their local communities. Community First Responders (CFRs) are always backed up with the nearest available emergency vehicle.
Clinical Research
Clinical research is a vital part of the work of the NHS, helping improve treatments for patients now and in the future. Clinical trials play an important role in discovering new treatments, and making sure we use existing treatments in the best way possible. Ultimately, high-quality clinical research helps the NHS improve future healthcare. Our research at WMAS helps us to provide the best care for our patients.
Commercial Call Centre
The Trust’s Commercial Call Centre offers message handling for NHS, public sector and private sector clients, including GP in hours call answering, Public Health England, National Burns Bed Bureau and a number of specialist medical equipment providers (bariatric and wound management). In addition, we provide safeguarding call handling and referral services to a County Council and PTS and Healthcare Logistics out of hours cover.
Healthcare Logistics
The Logistics and Courier Transport Services provide a wide range of services for mainly NHS customers, including clinical waste and mail collection, medical forms and supplies deliveries, specimen collections, patient and staff transport services.
Audit Services
The Trust hosts an Internal Audit Consortium which provides a range of audit services including internal audit, counter fraud, security management, risk management, specialist IT audit and management consultancy such as project management to the Trust, other NHS organisations in the West Midlands and East Anglian regions and Local Government bodies.