South Western Ambulance Service

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for the provision of ambulance services across an area of 10,000 square miles which is 20% of mainland England. We cover:

• The former Avon area – Bristol, North Somerset including Bath, and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG)
• Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
• Devon
• Dorset
• Gloucestershire
• Somerset
• Wiltshire

The Trust serves a total population of over 5.5 million and is estimated to receive an influx of over 23 million visitors each year. Our operational area is predominantly rural but also includes large urban centres including Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter, Bath, Swindon, Gloucester, Bournemouth and Poole.

Our core operations focus is the delivery of emergency ambulance 999 services (A&E). We have 92 ambulance stations, two Emergency Operations Centres, and two Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART).

The Trust also provides the clinical teams for four air ambulance charities across the South West (Cornwall Air Ambulance, Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, Wiltshire Air Ambulance, and Great Western Air Ambulance) and also works closely with the Devon Air Ambulance Trust.

We employ nearly 6,000 mainly clinical and operational staff (including paramedics, emergency care assistants, advanced technicians, and nurse practitioners) plus GPs, around 950 volunteers (including community first responders, BASICS doctors, fire co-responders and ambulance service volunteers) and over 800 students in training. 

Research Capabilities at SWASFT:

We are a leading research-active Trust and ranked 1^st across all national ambulance services in 2023/24 for complexity weighed recruitment to NIHR-funded studies. Our Research workforce comprises of:

Lead Research Paramedics

Head of Research, Audit and Improvement – Dr Sarah Black

Research Manager – Ria Osborne