Sheffield ambulance station merger is an “ambition” but plans not yet definite

The issue was raised today (January 23) at a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s health scrutiny sub-committee, which was attended by Yorkshire Ambulance Service managers. They presented a report on the delivery of the service and the challenges it faces.

Councillors who had seen a BBC news article based on the report questioned the idea. The report said that the city’s three ambulance stations in Middlewood, Longley and Batemoor are “no longer appropriate for the workforce we have”.

It said that the ambulance service’s ambition is to replace them with a new combined ambulance station in Sheffield within the next five years. This would be supported by “local ambulance response points strategically located throughout the city”.

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Yorkshire Ambulance Service chief operating officer Nick Smith told councillors who questioned the proposal that a lot of ambulance stations were built before 1974 and the number of staff in the city has increased by more than 100.

He said that the aim is to consolidate the ambulance stations into one new building: “There is a desire to move in that direction, the problem is access to capital.

“The cost is expensive and has risen quite significantly. We have no access to capital.

“It is an ambition and there are no firm plans for South Yorkshire.”

The meeting also heard that, whereas location is an issue, ambulances are on the road all the time and do not return to stations between calls, apart from for staff breaks. Staff use response points as well as stations.

Councillors were assured they would be consulted when the plans become more concrete.