Ambulance services announce new partnership to improve efficiency and share best practice

We will announce at our Annual General Meeting today (25 September) that we are teaming up with South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust to look at potential efficiencies through projects like joint procurement of vehicles, equipment and IT systems.

London Ambulance Service and South Central Ambulance Service provide 999/111 urgent and emergency care services for 16 million people between us, and we are also committed to working more closely together and learning from each other’s best practices.

London Ambulance Service Chief Executive Garrett Emmerson said:

“Our patients expect and deserve the best care we can provide and that means making every £1 of tax payers’ money count.

“Our five year strategy is improving the way in which we provide urgent and emergency care to people who live, work or travel in London in the most cost effective way.

“And we know that to keep improving, we need to partner with the wider NHS – and that’s what this partnership is all about, working with and learning from our neighbours to ensure the best care for the 16 million people who live and work across London and the South Central region.”

South Central Ambulance Service Chief Executive Will Hancock said:

“We already work closely together with London Ambulance Service, including at incidents which happen on or near our boundaries, during large scale planned events and major incidents. With ever increasing demands on ambulance services across the country, such partnerships will be crucial to ensure that the improvements in patient care and experience, working environments for staff and innovations in service delivery can be delivered within our existing resources.

“Many of our residents in the South Central region commute into London daily to work. We would also therefore like to explore opportunities to improve patient care for that large body of people we share between our two services, for example, through closer working between our 111 and integrated urgent care services.

“People might call 111 during the day and have a face to face appointment booked for them nearer home when they return.”

South Central Ambulance Service covers Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire (as well as Sussex and Surrey for non-emergency patient transport services) and London Ambulance Service covers the 32 London boroughs.

At our Annual Public Meeting – which begins at 17.30 on Tuesday 25 September – we will present an overview of the year and hold a Q&A with our Board. We will also discuss our mental health care and the importance of alternative healthcare pathways – and are delighted to be joined by speakers with unique insights into mental health care.

The event will be live streamed on YouTube, with the opportunity to ask questions via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.