About us

We are the world’s busiest emergency ambulance service.

Our vision is to deliver outstanding emergency and urgent care whenever and wherever needed for everyone in London, 24/7, 365 days a year.

We are the busiest emergency ambulance service in the UK serving one of the world’s most dynamic and diverse cities. We provide emergency and urgent healthcare that is free to patients at the time they receive it.

We are the only NHS provider trust to serve the whole of London and the nine million people who live in, work in or visit the city.

We cover an area of 620sq miles and have more than 8,000 people who work or volunteer for us – rising to 10,000 when including bank staff and students.

We answer around two million 999 calls a year and our crews attend more than 3000 emergencies a day. Our 24-hour 111 integrated urgent care services London answer around two million calls a year.

We play a leading role in integrating access to emergency and urgent care in the capital and are striving to ensure patients receive the right response, in the right place, at the right time

Our service operates over an area of approximately 620 square miles, from Heathrow in the west to Upminster in the east, and from Enfield in the north to Purley in the south.

Within this area we provide an emergency healthcare service for nearly nine million people living in London, as well as visitors and commuters.

We have 64 ambulance stations and five sector-based headquarters across London. During the coronavirus pandemic we consolidated our estate (currently to 53 stations) to enable us to respond effectively to the needs of our patients and maintain a high standard of care during a period of increasingly high demand.

Our crews begin their shifts at our ambulance stations – but don’t routinely respond from them.

More often than not they will only return to the station at the end of their shift – during their shifts they will respond from one call to the next or from hospitals after taking in patients rather than returning to stations between calls.

Our main role is to respond to emergency 999 calls, providing medical care to patients across the capital, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. Other services we offer include providing pre-arranged patient transport and finding hospital beds. Working with the police and the fire service, we are prepared for dealing with large-scale or major incidents in the capital.

Find out more about what we do.

We are governed by a Trust Board, which meets every two months. It is made up of 18 members – a non-executive chairman, seven non-executive directors, five of the Service’s executive directors (including the chief executive), and five non-executive directors.

Find out more about our Trust Board and when our next meeting is.

Target response times are set for us by the government and we are measured against these annual performance targets as well as other standards of service.

Learn about how we’re doing.

Each year we spend approximately £58 million on a wide range of goods and services. We have a responsibility to ensure that all public money we receive is used as resourcefully as possible, and that we achieve the best value for money. Find out more.

We want to provide our patients with the highest quality of care, which will contribute towards Londoners having health outcomes that are amongst the best in the world.

Find out about our plans for the future.

We are proud to be a research active organisation. By developing and hosting research studies we contribute to an evidence base that informs and improves emergency medical care and outcomes in the UK and worldwide.

We publish a number of publications on our website for you to download, including our annual reports, Trust Board papers and documents for the Freedom of Information Act publication scheme.

View a list of our publications.

We aim to work with Londoners from many different backgrounds to ensure that we continue to provide a service that meets their needs.

Discover how we involve our community

We are committed to promoting equal opportunities across everything we do, in terms of employment and training, providing services and our engagement and decision making.

How we are promoting equality and inclusion in the workplace.

Our vision

Building a world-class ambulance service for a world-class city: London’s primary integrator of access to urgent and emergency care – on scene, on phone and online.

Our purpose

We exist to:

• Provide outstanding care for all our patients
• Be a first-class employer, valuing and developing the skills, diversity and quality of life of our people
• Provide the best possible value for the tax-paying public, who pay for what we do
• Partner with the wider NHS and public sector to optimise healthcare and emergency services provision across London

We seek to live up to Our LAS Values and behaviours with all of our patients, communities, colleagues and other partners across London.

Caring

• Kindness – be caring and compassionate, polite, welcoming, approachable
• Positive – embrace change, be enthusiastic and optimistic, proactive
• Empathetic – put myself in other people’s shoes, consider other perspectives
• Listening – hear others, be open, approachable, give others space to speak

Respect

• Equity – be fair, embrace diversity, accept others for who they are
• Inclusive – advocate for others, ask for input, seek out alternative views
• Understanding – be interested in others’ feelings, stories and backgrounds
• Appreciative – offer descriptive praise, seek out feedback, value others

Teamwork

• Supportive – offer help when you notice others need it, check in regularly
• Collaborative – seek opportunities to work together, communicate, clarify
• Professional – be accountable, responsible for my attitude, calm and reassuring
• Integrity – be honest, share learnings, act in others’ and LAS’ best interests