Introducing Yorkshire Ambulance Service
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) is the region’s provider of emergency, urgent care and non-emergency patient transport services.
We serve a population of over five million people across Yorkshire and the Humber and strive to ensure that patients receive the right response to their care needs as quickly as possible, wherever they live. The catchment area for our NHS 111 service also extends to North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire.
We employ just over 7,000 staff, who together with nearly 1,000 volunteers, enable us to provide a vital 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, emergency and healthcare service.
Our main focus is to:
- receive 999 calls in our emergency operations centres (Wakefield and York)
- respond to 999 calls, arrange the most appropriate response to meet patients’ needs and get help to patients who have serious or life-threatening injuries or illnesses as quickly as possible
- provide the region’s Integrated Urgent Care (IUC) service which includes the NHS 111 urgent medical help and advice line
- take eligible patients to and from their hospital appointments and treatments with our non-emergency Patient Transport Service (PTS).
In addition, we:
- have a Resilience and Special Services Team (incorporating our Hazardous Area Response Team) which plans and leads our response to major and significant incidents such as those involving public transport, flooding, pandemic flu or chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) materials
- provide clinicians to work on the two helicopters operated by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Charity
- provide vehicles and drivers for the specialist Embrace transport service for critically ill infants and children in Yorkshire and the Humber; this service was also extended to the transport of critically ill adults during the pandemic.
- provide clinical cover at major sporting events and music festivals
- provide first aid training to community groups and actively promote life support initiatives in local communities.
Our frontline operations receive valuable support from many community-based volunteers, including community first responders, who are members of the public who have been trained to help us respond to certain time-critical medical emergencies. We also run co-responder schemes with Fire and Rescue Services in parts of Yorkshire and the Humber and have volunteer car drivers who support the delivery of our PTS.
We are the only NHS trust that covers the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber and we work closely with our healthcare partners including hospitals, health trusts, healthcare professionals, clinical commissioning groups, integrated care systems and other emergency services.
