With the help of the NHS Charities Together grant, East Midlands Ambulance Service has bought nine new electric vehicles to support its Community Responder scheme, bringing its fleet up to 17 vehicles in total.
The investment in electric vehicles is part of EMAS’s goal to becoming net zero by 2040. It started investing in its electric fleet in 2017 and last year replaced its non-emergency patient transport cars with fully electric vehicles reducing its carbon foot print by 96 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per year.
All the electric vehicles have sat-nav fitted as standard and the Community First Responders (CFR) will be able to re-charge the vehicles at numerous charging points across the region. In addition to the normal kit carried by the CFRs these vehicles are equipped with a Raizor lifting chair enabling volunteers to assist patients following a fall.
James Hornby is Service Delivery Manager for Community Response at East Midlands Ambulance Service. He said, “Thanks to the funding secured, we have been able to provide these state-of-the-art vehicles to our Community Response schemes across the region. These vehicles will help ensure our volunteers, who make a huge and valued contribution at EMAS can continue to make a difference to the lives of people within our communities across the region.”
This investment will see every division in the East Midlands region (Derbyshire, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire) receive one of the electric vehicles.
