East Midlands Ambulance Service Information & East Midlands Ambulance Service Links at HealthHaven.com

Map of the East Midlands Ambulance Service's coverage

The East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) is the NHS ambulance service serving the East Midlands region of England. It is one of 12 Ambulance Trusts providing England with Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct government funding for its 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.

[edit] History

A combined service for the East Midlands was originally formed in April 1999, by the merger of the Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire (including Rutland) ambulance services.

The East Midlands Ambulance Service was reconfigured on July 1, 2006 and its operating area was expanded to include Northamptonshire (previously covered by the Two Shires Ambulance Service) and Lincolnshire (previously covered by the Lincolnshire Ambulance Service). However, Glossop in the north of Derbyshire is serviced by the North West Ambulance Service (formerly Greater Manchester Ambulance Service). The merger with the Lincolnshire authority was opposed by some people. North and North East Lincolnshire, although part of the Yorkshire and the Humber region were historically part of the Lincolnshire Ambulance Service, due to the difficulties of providing cover across the Humber. Although for some time the two areas were covered by the Humberside Ambulance Service up to 1996 they then reverted to the Lincolnshire service.