A MERGER between Great Western Ambulance Service and South West Ambulance Service could be in operation by October.
An update will be received by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at a meeting next week following an announcement by the GWAS board in August 2011 that the organisation was not in a position to continue its work to become a foundation trust in its own right and would look for a partner to achieve this.
GWAS director of nursing Liam Williams said: “The preferred option is for GWAS to be acquired by SWASFT – they are already a foundation trust, they are a high performing trust and have a history of being so, they have similar operational and clinical priorities and share a number of geographic boundaries with a steady patient flow across those boundaries.
“The aim, should the acquisition happen, is for the larger organisation to be in operation as of October 2012.”
GWAS covers an area of 3,000sq miles consisting of 2.4 million residents. SWAST’s 6,600sq mile-area is made up of 2.9 million residents and 17.5million visitors.
A staff consultation on transfers to SWAST is expected to take place between May and June.
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