East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) has announced plans to modernise its buildings and facilities as part of a programme to meet growing patient demand and help create a service fit for the future.
These plans will support recruitment of hundreds of additional staff and 40 additional ambulances to improve response times.
Hubs will provide improved wellbeing, education and rest facilities that staff deserve. They’ll enable cleaning, maintenance and preparation of ambulances by dedicated make ready teams, freeing up more time for crews to provide high-quality patient care.
Over the next 10 years, EMAS will develop a small number of larger, modern ambulance ‘hubs’, while continuing to invest in existing stations.
This approach is already used successfully by other UK ambulance services and recognised as NHS best practice.
There will be no reduction in ambulance service provision and emergency response arrangements will not change. Anyone who needs an emergency ambulance will continue to receive one.
Will Legge, Deputy Chief Executive of EMAS, said: “This programme is about much more than buildings - it’s about saving lives.
“We are growing our frontline teams and investing in more ambulances, and we need modern facilities that give our people the space, support and working environments that allow them to focus on providing the best possible care to patients.
“Most importantly, there will be no reduction in services and how we respond to emergencies will not change. More than half of ambulance responses are made by crews already working in local communities, rather than setting off from an ambulance station. That will stay the same, with the nearest available ambulance continuing to be sent based on patient need and demand.
“This is a long-term investment in our people, our patients and the communities we serve.”
EMAS currently receives around 3,500 emergency calls a day, or one every 25 seconds. At the same time, the population is increasing, patient needs are becoming more complex and many of EMAS’s buildings are ageing, full and difficult to maintain.
Modernising its estate will help EMAS to operate more efficiently and reduce the organisation’s environmental impact – for example, by supporting electric vehicle charging and wider NHS Net Zero ambitions.
The first hubs will be developed at a former commercial unit in Northampton, and at a building on the Chesterfield Royal Hospital site in Derbyshire. The existing Northampton North and Mereway stations will be consolidated into the new Northamptonshire hub, with the Chesterfield, Eckington and Heath stations consolidated into the Derbyshire hub.
Subject to planning permission being secured, the Northamptonshire hub will be operational by September 2027 and Chesterfield by March 2028.
More information – including an explainer video, information booklet and a series of common Q&As – is available on EMAS’s website.
