£12 million to support South East Coast ambulances

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has said that patients in South East England will benefit from £12.28 million in new funding to support paramedics to get on the road faster.

Announcing funding for three state-of-the-art 'make ready hubs' to get ambulance crews prepared faster, the South East Coast Ambulance Service will receive £6.52 million for Medway, £5.52 million to expand the existing make ready hub in Brighton and £240,000 to expand the existing ambulance station in Worthing.

The ‘make ready hubs’ allow ambulance trusts to improve turnaround times for their ambulance fleets by using specialist staff and facilities to quickly restock, refuel and clean ambulances, getting them back on the road faster and maximising paramedic time with patients.

Hancock said: “I’m delighted to give the go-ahead to more state-of-the-art ambulance hubs, which patients in Medway, Worthing and Brighton will soon have up and running in their areas. Our heroic paramedics represent the frontline of our NHS, and it’s vital they can support patients in need as quickly as possible – that’s why we’re backing patients and paramedics alike in the South East with over £12 million of investment.”

Daren Mochrie, chief executive of South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I welcome this announcement of significant investment, which will allow us to continue to develop our facilities to improve our services across the Medway, Worthing and Brighton areas. The make ready system has been shown to deliver real benefits for our patients and staff and I am delighted that this funding allows us to continue to roll this out.”