The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust is the authority responsible for providing NHS ambulance

Ambulance

An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...

 services in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, 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...

 and Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

 in the South East England

South East England

South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...

 region. The trust was formed on July 1, 2006, following the merger of the Royal Berkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, the Hampshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, the Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust, and the Two Shires Ambulance NHS Trust (Bucks only).

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.

South Central Ambulance Service is the only NHS Trust ambulance provider in the UK to have its own League of Friends. Inherited from the former Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust, this was founded in 1982, and today raises funds that are used to enhance the standard of care for patients, provide additional benefits for service personnel, encourage the acquisition of essential life-support skills among the public, and allow the deployment of volunteer Community first responder

Community first responder

A Community First Responder , is a person available to be dispatched by an ambulance control centre to attend medical emergencies in their local area...

.

In June 2011 it was named the UK's top performing ambulance service with a Cat A response time of 77.5%, the national average is 74.9%. In October 2011 the BBC discovered that SCAS spent more on private ambulance services to cover 999 calls than any other service in the country.

See also

• Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
• Pre 2006 NHS ambulance services
  Pre 2006 NHS ambulance services
  Prior to changes in July 2006, when the number of ambulance service trusts was reduced to 13, England was covered by 31 ambulance trusts, which were structured as below. For the current trusts, see Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom...
  
  
• Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance
  Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance
  Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance is an air ambulance service serving the counties of Hampshire and Isle of Wight in Southern England, United Kingdom. It is one of twenty-five air ambulance services in the United Kingdom....
  
  

External links

• South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust http://www.southcentralambulance.nhs.uk
• South Central Ambulance League of Friends http://www.ambulancefriends.org.uk
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13889857
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15353747