West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust

West Midlands Ambulance Service FT 2

Alert over steep rise in handover delays

2024-11-01T05:00:00+00:00

An ambulance trust is warning that delays handing patients over to hospitals have “significantly deteriorated” in the past two months, with one waiting nearly 20 hours.

Black paramedic and ambulance, AI generated

Ambulance trusts suffer as calls jump 13% in London

2024-10-24T11:52:00+01:00

Ambulance trusts are battling an extremely tough October with calls in one region up by 13 per cent year-on-year and others struggling with hospital handovers.

Ambulance call

Ambulance services hit crucial target

2024-09-12T11:53:00+01:00

Ambulances reached some of the most seriously ill people within an average of 30 minutes last month – meeting a key NHS England target for the first time in more than a year.

ambulance

NHSE admits ‘urgent’ ambulance target will be missed in capital

2024-09-06T11:40:00+01:00

NHS England has agreed ambulance trusts can meet ‘realistic’ response times for ‘urgent’ ambulance calls including some heart attacks and stroke this winter, citing ‘service pressures, resources and demand’.

Ambulance triage: woman at desk with computer

Trust refuses to share full data with ICBs, citing ‘counter terrorism’ concerns

2024-08-05T11:16:00+01:00

An ambulance trust with some of England’s worst handover delays has refused to share some patient data with local partners on the grounds the information relates to “counter terrorism and other sensitive” details.

Simon Weldon

Five trusts join forces on AI and procurement

2024-05-23T11:59:00+01:00

Five ambulance service trusts are forming a group, which will include joint projects on artificial intelligence, and a potential move to standardisation and joint procurement of vehicles.

Ambulance

Four regions still without extra ambulances promised by NHSE

2024-05-21T04:59:00+01:00

Four regions that successfully bid for dedicated ambulances for mental health patients are still without the specialist vehicles, despite growing concerns the NHS is unable to respond to people in crisis.

ambulance

Trust’s ‘leadership behaviour’ attacked by six ICBs

2024-05-03T04:57:00+01:00

Six integrated care board chiefs in the Midlands have written to an ambulance trust over a “pattern of behaviour” they claim its leadership team has displayed since its Care Quality Commission rating was downgraded.

West Midlands Ambulance Service FT

Trust sets £20m ultimatum for ICBs to fund CQC requirements

2024-03-26T05:30:00+00:00

An ambulance trust is preparing to ask its commissioners for an extra £20m – and is planning to withdraw some staff seconded to work at A&Es – after the Care Quality Commission ordered it to improve response times.

Exec-Anthony-Marsh

Trust loses ‘outstanding’ rating

2024-02-23T05:17:00+00:00

An ambulance trust rated “outstanding” by the Care Quality Commission since 2019 has lost the top-tier rating.

Siobhan Melia

Outside CEOs bring ‘positive challenge’ to sector, says review author

2024-02-22T12:53:00+00:00

The senior leader who carried out a cultural review of the ambulance sector has said bringing in chief executives from outside has “shone a different light” on the service, although she stressed it was not a “silver bullet”.

Ambulance

Waiting times focus ‘overshadows misconduct’, finds NHSE review

2024-02-15T12:55:00+00:00

Ambulance trusts have often prioritised capacity and response times over dealing with cases of misconduct, a review of culture in the sector for NHS England has found.

Manchester bombing

Trust loses national emergency contract after 13 years

2024-01-31T12:18:00+00:00

A key part of the NHS’s national emergency response system has been handed to a new trust to run for the next five years.

Zoe Tidman 2023

Carbon Copy: Why the NHS still buys diesel ambulances

2023-12-12T13:30:00+00:00

The ideas, policies and challenges at the heart of the NHS goal for net zero emissions, from HSJ sustainability correspondent Zoe Tidman.

ambulance

Exclusive: Dozens of new ambulances delayed after supplier goes bust

2023-11-21T12:54:00+00:00

The delivery of more than 100 new ambulances to the NHS could be delayed ahead of winter after the company paid to supply them went into administration, HSJ has learned.

Ambulance

Major incident unit faces possible closure

2023-10-24T03:56:00+01:00

The future of a specialist ambulance unit responsible for responding to major incidents such as terrorist attacks is in question following ongoing delay in putting its new contract out to tender.

ambulance

A&E handover delays up by a fifth, leak reveals

2023-10-17T04:00:00+01:00

Hours lost to ambulance handover delays shot up by nearly a quarter last month amid growing fears about the pressure on ambulance services going into winter, according to figures seen by HSJ.

Ambulance

Trust needs £20m to deliver asks from Manchester bomb inquiry

2023-09-04T04:28:00+01:00

Ambulance trusts are lobbying for tens of millions in additional funding to meet key targets set by the Manchester Arena bombing inquiry.

West Midlands Ambulance Service FT 2

‘Great’ trust seen as ‘insular and dismissive of integration’

2023-07-26T11:34:00+01:00

A “great” ambulance trust’s “uncompromising” focus on outcomes and its own performance has been a barrier to system working and affected relationships with partners, an external review has advised it.

Ambulance

New triage policy implicated in 44-year-old’s death

2023-06-14T05:44:00+01:00

An ambulance service says it has sped up clinical review of lower-priority calls, after a coroner said the new triage process — introduced in response to recent waiting time pressures — ‘will lead to further deaths’.