South East Coast Ambulance Service
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, covering Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
(including Medway
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
), Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
and East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
(including Brighton and Hove). It also covers a part of north-eastern Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
around Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
. SECAmb was made a NHS Foundation Trust on 1 March 2011 - one of only two FTs in England.
It is one of 12 ambulance trusts providing England with emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
, receiving direct government funding for its role. There is no charge to patients for use of the service, and under the Patient's Charter
Patient's Charter
The Patient's Charter is a United Kingdom government document, which sets out a number of rights for National Health Service patients. It was originally introduced in 1991, under the then Conservative government, and was revised in 1995 and 1997....
, every person in the United Kingdom has the right to the attendance of an ambulance in an emergency.
The service came in to being on 1 July 2006, with the merger of the former Kent Ambulance Service
Kent Ambulance Service
Kent Ambulance Service was the ambulance service for the County of Kent in England until July 1, 2006, when it was succeeded by a South East Coast Ambulance Service also covering Surrey and Sussex....
, Surrey Ambulance Service
Surrey Ambulance Service
Surrey Ambulance Service was the ambulance service for the County of Surrey in England until July 1, 2006, when it was succeeded by a South East Coast Ambulance Service also covering Sussex and Kent....
and Sussex Ambulance Service
Sussex Ambulance Service
Sussex Ambulance Service was the ambulance service for the County of Sussex in England until July 1, 2006, when it was succeeded by a South East Coast Ambulance Service also covering Surrey and Kent....
.
About
The Chief Executive of the Trust is Paul Sutton, who was previously Chief Executive Officer of Sussex Ambulance Service. The Trust's Chair is Tony Thorne.The Trust responds to 999
999 (emergency telephone number)
999 is an official emergency telephone number in a number of countries which allows the caller to contact emergency services for urgent assistance....
calls from the public and urgent calls from health professionals: in Kent and Sussex, it also provides non-emergency patient transport services (pre-booked patient journeys to and from health care facilities). In addition, the Trust provides the crews and maintains the three ambulances of the Neonatal Transfer Service for Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
It serves a population of around 4.5 million. During the last financial year (2005 / 2006) the three predecessor Trusts responded to about 460,000 emergency calls.
Regional Air Ambulance Services
The ambulance region is served by two air ambulances operated by the Kent Air Ambulance Trust, the Kent Air AmbulanceKent Air Ambulance
The Kent Air Ambulance is an organisation providing emergency medical services through the provision of a helicopter air ambulance covering the county of Kent in the South East of England, United Kingdom...
, and the Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance
Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance
The Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance is an organisation providing emergency medical services through the provision of a helicopter air ambulance covering the two counties of Surrey and Sussex in the South East of England, United Kingdom...
, which operate dedicated services.
In Sussex, this is supplemented by the Sussex Police Air Operations Unit, who run a helicopter jointly with SECAmb, called Hotel 900
Sussex Police Air Operations Unit
The Sussex Police Air Operations Unit, popularly referred to by the aircrew's police net callsign, Hotel 900, was a unit of Sussex Police that provided emergency air support in the Sussex area of England...
, which responds to both police and ambulance requests for assistance.
See also
- Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
- Paramedics in the United KingdomParamedics in the United KingdomEmergency medical personnel in the United Kingdom are people engaged in the provision of emergency medical services and include paramedics, emergency medical technicians and emergency care support workers...
- Air Ambulances in the United KingdomAir Ambulances in the United KingdomThere are a number of air ambulance services in the United Kingdom using either helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft. Thirty helicopters, all operated by commercial companies and funded by charitable organisations, cover England and Wales...