Case for change
Building a Safer, Sustainable Ambulance Service.
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) and South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) operate within a challenging performance and financial environment that requires transformation to ensure a sustainable future for the provision of Ambulance Services across the South East of England.
Meeting the needs of our patients:
We recognise that there is more we can be doing to deliver timelier responses to patients. In 2024/25 in the South East, the most urgent calls (Category 1) took an average of 8 minutes 38 seconds – above the 7-minute target. For Category 2 emergencies, the average was 30 minutes 11 seconds against an 18-minute constitutional standard.
We also know that clinical outcomes can vary significantly across the region. This is a result of differing service models and historic fragmentation in commissioning. By working together, we aim to level up and enhance our response to patients. Working with a region-wide single strategic commissioning, we will be able to standardise our model, harmonise our deployment, and improve our training and approach pathway development. This will ensure more equitable clinical outcomes and improved performance for our patients.
What makes this even more important to act now is that the South East has one of the fastest growing older populations in the country. By 2034, the number of people aged over 85 is expected to rise by more than 60 per cent. This, along with differences between urban, coastal and rural areas, means demand for ambulance services could increase by over 20 per cent in the next decade.
Our plans are consistent with the NHS 10 Year plan. By working together, we will be able to affect the changes at a larger scale, ensuring that the much-needed service changes both within the Ambulance Service as well as across other parts of the healthcare system are affected, enabling the key shift from Hospital to Community.
Transform our services:
By working together, SCAS and SECAmb can share resources, standardise clinical models, and improve patient care.
We believe that joint planning could unlock efficiencies worth over £10 million and deliver wider benefits of potentially up to the equivalent of £80 million through aligned commissioning, standardisation of service provision and better integration with other health services. This means more patients can be treated in the right place, reducing unnecessary trips to emergency departments.
Ultimately, this group is about creating a safe, effective and sustainable ambulance service for everyone in the South East. This collaboration is about improving response times, reducing variation in care and meeting the needs of a growing population.
By moving forward together as an Ambulance Group, we expect to be able to move faster into realising our jointly held vision and strategies for the role we play in healthcare, providing life-saving emergency response to those who needs us the most, and care navigation and an appropriate urgent response closer to home for those who don’t need to attend an Emergency Department.
Why This Change Matters
We’re creating a safer, more sustainable ambulance service for the South East- one that delivers better care for patients and better support for our people.
By working together as a group, aligned with a single regional strategic commissioner, SCAS and SECAmb can reduce variation, improve outcomes and unlock new opportunities for our staff, all while investing more in frontline care.