The Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething, announced in July 2018 that more than £10m will be spent replacing emergency passenger transport in Wales.
The Welsh Government will replace older vehicles with new, more efficient and greener vehicles.
Replacement of healthcare transport
Since 2011, the Welsh Government has invested almost £55m in new ambulance vehicles. Currently, the Welsh Ambulance Service currently has more than 700 vehicles in its fleet. The plans include the replacement of 100 ambulances which will meet the latest Euro 6 emissions standards.
When announcing the spend, Mr Gething said:
“I am pleased to be able to announce funding of £10.23m to replace some of our ageing ambulances and other passenger transport vehicles with more modern, fuel-efficient and greener versions. This investment will enable the Welsh Ambulance Service to upgrade its fleet to ensure it has the most appropriate vehicles to deliver the best care to the people of Wales.”
The Welsh Government also plans to introduce 33 emergency response motorcycles, 33 non-emergency passenger transport vehicles and 9 specialist emergency vehicles for major incidents.
Modernising the Welsh Ambulance Service
The Welsh Ambulance Service’s Director of Operations Richard Lee has responded to funding announcement and notes the importance of providing modern transport and equipment:
“Our ambulances and response cars in Wales are some of the most modern and well equipped in the UK and this funding will allow us to continue to replace our vehicles and – crucially – the clinical equipment that they carry as they reach the end of their working life.
Access public sector transport tenders
The Government is also updating ambulance fleets across England, investing in 256 new state-of-the-art vehicles, more than half of which will be on the road for this winter.
The investment in ambulance fleets is indicative of the sort of transport and vehicle tenders that arise in the public sector on a regular basis.
If you would like to stay up to date with what the UK government and the wider public sector is spending on transport, register today and start finding transport tenders in the UK and/or Ireland.
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