South Western Ambulance Service

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SWAST) is the authority responsible for providing NHS ambulance services in the counties of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset. The trust was created in July 2006 as a result of the merger of the Westcountry and Dorset ambulance services.

It is one of 13 Ambulance Trusts providing England with Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for its role. Under the Patient's charter, every person in the United Kingdom has the right to the attendance of an ambulance in an emergency. There is no charge to patients for use of the service.

The trust is split into 2 divisions:

West - Devon and Cornwall including West Divisional HQ and 999 Control at Exeter (covering the former Westcountry areas of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall) and PTS Controls at Plymouth and Exeter

East - Somerset and Dorset including East Divisional HQ, 999 and PTS Control at Ringwood (covering the former Dorset Ambulance area) and PTS Control at Taunton.

Facts and Figures
The Trust is one of the largest in the UK and has 65 stations within all the 4 counties it serves. Within this, it covers 20,231 miles of road and 827 miles of coastline. In a year, over 250,000 Emergency and Urgent calls are received and dealt with.

The Trust provides ambulance services for the Strategic Health Authority: NHS South West. In addition the Trust works with the following Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) for ambulance matters:

Primary Care Trusts Cornwall
 * Cornwall and Isles of Scilly

Devon Somerset
 * Devon
 * Plymouth Teaching
 * Torbay
 * Somerset

Dorset
 * Bournemouth and Poole
 * Dorset

Vehicles



 * A&E vehicles    - 194
 * PTS vehicles    - 118
 * RRV cars        -  86
 * RRV motorcycles -   7
 * Pool cars       -  28
 * Other vehicles  -  59
 * Air ambulances  -   4
 * Air bases       -   4

Air Ambulances
The South Western Ambulance Service have access to the following air ambulances.
 * Cornwall Air Ambulance
 * Devon Air Ambulance of which there are two helicopters.
 * Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance

Map


South Western Ambulance Service Area