South East Coast Ambulance Service’s (SECAmb) Hazardous Area Response Team, (HART), paramedics will benefit from a new confined-space training facility recently installed at their base in Ashford, Kent. The specialist container, previously used by and donated by West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, has been repurposed to cater for the training requirements of SECAmb’s HART. HART is made up of team
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Chief Executive. Simon Weldon, currently Group Chief Executive of University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group, will be joining the Trust on 24 April 2023. He takes up the position from Siobhan Melia who has held the post on an interim basis since July 2022, and is returning to her substantiv
We understand industrial action planned by a number of the Trust’s unions has been paused after national talks between the government and unions resulted in a new pay offer. The offer will now be voted on by staff in the coming weeks during which time strike action will be paused. SECAmb welcomes the development and hopes the pay dispute can be resolved as soon as possible. We would like to thank
A Reigate man has leant his voice to calls for everyone to learn CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) after being reunited with some of the ambulance team who help save his life. Michael Woolley, 80, suffered a cardiac arrest at his home on the afternoon of 14 December last year. His wife, Lynn, who joined him when he visited Banstead Make Ready Centre recently, immediately began CPR, called 999 a
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, (SECAmb), is celebrating a decade of running the NHS 111 service across much of its region. The Trust, which now runs the service across Kent, Medway and Sussex, handled its first 111 call 10 years ago as part of a soft launch of the service in the region. The NHS 111 service took over from NHS Direct, a nationally-run service that began in
Industrial action which was planned to take place at SECAmb on Monday 6 March 2023 has been postponed. Industrial action that members of GMB and Unite were due to take tomorrow has been stood down to allow for talks to take place with the government. We would like to thank all staff and public for their continued support during this time. Further information on action is available to the public
With more than three-quarters of all resuscitations attempts by South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) crews taking place in the home, this February Heart Month, people are being asked if they would be willing and able to perform CPR on a loved one. The revealing statistic comes from a new report on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) published by SECAmb. The report, covering April 2021 to
A prolific persistent caller who made more than 7,000 calls to Sussex Police and SECAmb from September 2020 and was continually abusive to emergency service contact officers has been sentenced to 39-months in prison. Roger Jackson, 77, from Horsham, pleaded guilty at a hearing at Lewes Crown Court on Friday, January 27. As part of the sentence Jackson will also have a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO
In the South East Coast Ambulance Service region, the GMB Union balloted its members for industrial action last year and met the legal threshold to take action. To date, industrial action has taken place on 21 December 2022 and on 11 January and 6 February 202. The GMB Union has announced further days of industrial action on 20 February, 6 March and 20 March. As with the previous day’s action we a
A new multi-purpose ambulance centre is expected to become operational this summer. The South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, (SECAmb) centre, in Bredgar Road, Gillingham, will consist of a Make Ready Centre, Emergency Operations Centre, (EOC), and NHS 111 contact centre. It will be the first ambulance centre in the country to bring all three functions together under one roof. T