Emergency response

Emergency response

In times of crisis, emergency support from St John Ambulance can be the difference between lives lost and lives saved.
Whether responding to a national disaster or an individual medical emergency, St John Ambulance personnel form a vital part of the nation’s emergency response system, working on the front line alongside the emergency services.

We work in conjunction with other charitable, voluntary and statutory organisations to provide a high quality service (often through Local Resilience Forums) and by using the ResilienceDirect network.

In severe winter weather conditions, volunteers crew 4x4 vehicles to help patients that couldn’t be reached by traditional ambulances, and transport community nurses who would otherwise be unable to reach patients relying on them for their routine care and medication.

Our volunteers are fully-trained and always on hand to offer assistance and support to those in need. We respond quickly, providing vital help for major emergencies, road accidents, weather incidents and fires.

In recent years, we have:

• supported the 999 emergency service, allowing the NHS focus on major transport accidents
• mobilised ambulances, 4x4 vehicles and command and control vehicles at times of severe weather including snow and storms
• provided first aid cover at evacuation centres and a house-to-house welfare service in areas of inland flooding or at risk of flooding – such as during the 2015 winter floods
• evacuated residents from care homes where a utility failure has occurred
• responded to support A&E departments where an ‘internal major emergency’ has been declared due to exceptional demand.

• Staff are suitably qualified