Great Western Ambulance Service

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The Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust provides services in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire in the South West England region. It was formed on April 1, 2006 from the merger of the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire ambulance services.

It is one of 13 Ambulance Trusts providing England with Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for it's role. There is no charge to patients for use of the service, and under the Patient's charter, every person in the United Kingdom, has the right to the attendance of an ambulance in an emergency.

Its headquarters is at Jenner House, Chippenham, Wiltshire.

The trust had a difficult start, marked by redundancies, training centre and ambulance station closures, strained industrial relations with its recognised union and unprecedented attacks from the local media. The trust also faces losing its non-emergency Patient Transport Services contracts to private contractors.

One of the trust's three control rooms, the Avon Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre at Acuma House, Almondsbury, is recognised as a Centre of Excellence for emergency call handling and dispatch. One of the EMDC team received the International EMD of the Year Award.

Avon hosts the south-west's primary CBRN terrorist response capability and has been praised for its well governed and effective First Response scheme.