South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is urging people to “think twice” before calling 999 for an ambulance this Bank Holiday weekend.
The Trust experienced its busiest summer week of activity in three years between 10 and 16 August when it responded to almost 20,000 incidents.
It has dealt with around 75,500 incidents during the past four calendar weeks, an increase of 6.4% compared to the same period last year.
SWASFT is reminding people to call 999 only in a medical emergency when someone is seriously injured or ill and their life is...
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is reminding people only to call 999 in a medical emergency when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk. The Trust has been responding to a high number of incidents in recent days, as demand on the service has increased noticeably during the past month. SWASFT dealt with 14,340 incidents between Friday 7 and Tuesday 11 August, an increase of 13.8% compared to the same time period last year. The Trust is encouraging people to use the ambulance service wisely, and to make appropriate use of other healthcare...
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) has been officially recognised for delivering world-class training for major emergencies. The Trust has been awarded the prestigious Skills for Health Quality Mark – for providing outstanding Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) training. The training, which is run in partnership with Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre, is intended to prepare commanders for anything from extreme weather conditions to a major transport incident or an outbreak of an infectious disease. SWASFT is the first UK...
Hundreds of South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) staff have experienced violence and aggression while working during the coronavirus pandemic. Ambulance crews and control room staff reported 290 incidents during the first 10 weeks of lockdown from 23 March to 31 May. This figure compared with 199 during the same time period in 2019. The majority (84%) of the cases during lockdown were verbal abuse from patients, relatives and members of the public. There were also 46 physical assaults against SWASFT staff, up from 34 last year. The areas with the highest number of...
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is urging people only to call 999 this Christmas if someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.
Demand for the ambulance service is likely to peak over the next two weeks when staff are expecting to respond to more than 3,000 calls a day.
Paramedics and Control Room staff warn that unnecessary calls over the festive period could delay responses to those patients most in need of emergency help.
The Trust has launched its ‘12 Days of Christmas’ campaign, encouraging people to use the...
Are you ready for Restart a Heart day – Wednesday 16 October 2019? South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) will be running events right across the South West in order to train as many people as possible in the life-saving technique. Our Community First Responders and Ambulance teams will be out and about teaching skills in schools across October too. Please help us to publicise and get as many lives saved as possible.
Find a venue across the South West which is local to you and come get in some life-saving practice on 16 October 2019 with trained Community...
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is urging members of the public to choose appropriately this Easter Bank Holiday as demand for the ambulance service is expected to increase.
Alternative healthcare options for less serious conditions include; visiting your local pharmacy, visiting a minor injuries unit or NHS walk-in centre, or calling NHS111. You can also find a whole host of information and advice online at http://www.nhs.uk
The Trust is expecting more than 11,000 incidents over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend with many visitors to the region...
A paramedic from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Ambulance Medal (QAM).
The esteemed award goes to Robert Horton, Responder Manager and Paramedic from Devon who joined the Trust in 2001.
In 2009 he joined the Trust’s Community Engagement Team to focus on developing community access to defibrillators. Rob has worked tirelessly, often in his own time, and with his team created over 3,500 defibrillators across the South West, together with an amazing team of 8,900 people who are trained every year by Rob and his...
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is urging people only to call 999 in a genuine emergency this Christmas. Demand for the service is likely to peak between Saturday 22 December and Boxing Day when staff are expecting to deal with more than 3,100 incidents a day. Managers warn that unnecessary calls over the busy festive period could delay emergency help for people in real need of an ambulance. SWASFT has released a montage of clips from 10 inappropriate calls it received from the public recently, as examples of people calling 999 for the wrong reasons. The 10...
A team of ambulance clinicians from the south west has been honoured for their innovative work in cancer care. The Macmillan Cancer Care Development team at the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) won the Innovation Excellence Team award at the prestigious 2018 Macmillan Cancer Support Excellence Awards, held at The Birmingham Hilton Metropole Hotel on Thursday 8 November.
Awards host, multi-award-winning journalist and broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire, presented project manager Joanne Stonehouse with the award. (See image).
