north west ambulance service s coverage north west ambulance service 1 trading name nwas type non profit nhs branch off genre medical ambulance service founded 01 06 2006 headquarters north west england area served north west england services free with required national insurance ambulance owner uk government website organisation official website the north west ambulance service nhs trust nwas formerly 4 services cumbria ambulance service lancashire ambulance service cheshire and mersey ambulance service and greater manchester ambulance service was formed on 1 july 2006 as part of health minister lord warner s plans to reduce the number of nhs ambulance service trusts operating in the united kingdom meaning that nwas was given a bigger area to cover making them the second largest in england 2 nwas ambulance on an emergency call response car on market street manchester it is one of 10 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 . multiple images of an ambulance in the north west ambulance service at west cumberland hospital based in bolton the new trust provided services to almost 7 million people in greater manchester cheshire merseyside lancashire cumbria and the north western fringes of the high peak district of derbyshire covering the towns of glossop and hadfield in an area of some 5 500 square miles 14 000 km2 . the trust lost the contract for non emergency patient transport services in cheshire warrington and wirral . it will transfer to the west midlands ambulance service in july 2016 . 3 they also operate the largest fleet of non emergency patient transport ambulances in the uk in 2013 2014 nwas patient transport service ambulances transported 1.2 million people to hospital appointments across the region . nwas use mercedes benz sprinters or fiat ducatos as their standard emergency ambulance skoda scouts as the main rapid response car and renault masters as the primary pts vehicle . the trust currently operates from 114 ambulance stations and employs around 4 900 staff . nwas was the first ambulance trust to be inspected by the care quality commission in august 2014 . the commission found the trust provided safe and effective services which were well led and with a clear focus on quality but it was criticised for taking too many callers to hospital and for sending ambulances when other responses would have been more appropriate . 4 see also edit emergency medical services in the united kingdom healthcare in greater manchester north west air ambulance list of nhs trusts references 5 edit north west ambulance service website . north west ambulance service website . nwas . 2014 07 15 . where we are . nwas.nhs.uk . north west ambulance services . retrieved 3 april 2014 . north west ambulance service loses contract to cover cheshire . chester chronicle . 1 january 2016 . retrieved 2 january 2016 . north west ambulance service gets mixed care quality commission report . bbc news . 10 december 2014 . retrieved 12 january 2015 . north west ambulance service website . north west ambulance service website . nwas . 2014 07 15 . external links edit nwas website wikimedia commons has media related to north west ambulance service . v t e ambulance services in the united kingdom england east midlands east of england isle of wight london north east north west south central south east coast south western west midlands yorkshire northern ireland scotland wales retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title north west ambulance service & oldid 717910900 categories health in merseysidehealth in greater manchesternhs ambulance services trustshealth in lancashirehealth in cumbriahidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 30 april 2016 at 13 16 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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