Meeting With West Midlands Ambulance Service

This morning I was a guest of the West Midlands Ambulance Service at an event they held in Brierley Hill (where our regional ambulance headquarters is based).

The West Midlands Ambulance Service covers a region with a population of 5.3 million people and deals with two thousand five hundred 999 calls per day. They have 849 vehicles - comprising traditional ambulances, motorbikes (which are all based in Birmingham), cars and 4 Air Ambulances. Today there were a number of vehicles on display and I was shown the equipment in one of the Trust's most modern ambulances.

Different vehicles for different terrains all help the ambulance personnel to arrive at the scene quickly. And that is what people want. A recent survey showed that by far the largest amount of people (32%) said the most important thing they wanted from the ambulance service was that they responded to a call quickly.

It was great to learn that out of a total of 9 National Awards for ambulance personnel given out this year, five have gone to staff from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, including Paramedic of the Year. Congratulations to all of them!