About us

Providing life-saving patient care and support across the North East, North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) is the region’s provider of pre-hospital ambulance care and patient transport services.

Providing life-saving patient care and support across the North East, North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) is the region’s provider of pre-hospital ambulance care and patient transport services.

We employ more than 3,200 people, who strive to perform to the highest professional standards in a spirit of collaboration and teamwork. Every year, we answer more than 1.3m emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, respond to 390,000 emergency and urgent incidents. We also provide medical cover at events and offer first aid training to businesses and communities throughout the region.

Caring for and treating more patients closer to home is at the heart of our plans, and our committed, compassionate and caring colleagues are critical to our success, whether they work on the frontline or in one of our support service teams.

As an anchor institution within the North East economy, NEAS forms an important part of the health services across the region and is an essential partner within the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS). Our local partners include eight acute hospital trusts, two mental health trusts, 13 local authorities, police and fire services, and many voluntary organisations.

NEAS is also an essential partner in the North East Urgent and Emergency Care Network (NEUECN). The network comprises over 30 organisations from across the ICS with the aim of reducing unwarranted variation and improving the quality, safety and equity of urgent and emergency care.

Our Mission

To provide safe, effective and responsive care for all.

Our Vision

Unmatched quality of care, every time we touch lives.

Even in the most challenging situations, we will strive to perform to the highest professional standards in a spirit of collaboration and teamwork, no matter what the circumstances.

We will be acknowledged as the leading specialist care provider when looking after the patients in our care.

These values will underpin our recruitment process, and employees will be measured against them as part of their performance review.

Our Values

We keep our patients at the centre of everything we do, as we strive to make a difference day in and out. Our vision: to deliver unmatched quality of care, every time we touch lives, and our mission: to deliver safe, effective, and responsive care for all, are both supported by our core values which provide the cultural and behavioural framework within which we operate.

These shared values of Compassion, Accountability and Responsibility, Respect, and Excellence and Innovation, are at the heart of everything we do.

Our Strategy

The Trust Strategy “Our Vision for the Future 2021 – 2026” sets out how we will achieve our mission of providing safe, effective, and responsive care for all. It was developed following extensive consultation and engagement with key internal and external stakeholders, and our Board of Directors.

Our Strategy is focused around four strategic ambitions, with patients at the centre:

  1. People – a great place to work and grow
  2. Performance – deliver outstanding performance, every time
  3. Partner – collaborate and innovate with our partners
  4. Quality – safe, compassionate, and inclusive care
Read our Strategy 2021 - 2026

What makes NEAS stand out?

  • In 2022/23 we demonstrated a strong financial performance, ending the year with a £2.7m surplus.
  • NEAS is one of only 4 NHS organisations to be ranked as a Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer, earning number 65 in the 2023 list.
  • We have a wholly owned fleet management subsidiary company – North East Ambulance Service Unified Solutions (NEASUS) which continues to develop, investing in new equipment to allow for the introduction of electric vehicles in the future. We are currently developing a fleet decarbonisation strategy and Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure strategy.
  • As part of our green plan, we are committed to send 0% of waste to landfill. We continued to increase our recycling rate to 31% for 2022/23, with the remainder of general waste being sent to energy recovery. We also maintain wildflower meadows on several stations, and are working collaboratively with NHS Forests to strategically target tree planting across our estates.
  • NEAS is a key member of the Northern Ambulance Alliance; a partnership of 4 Ambulance Trusts working together to deliver the best possible outcomes for patients.
  • We have a long history of supporting Armed Forces Veterans, with more than 400 NEAS colleagues veterans or currently serving as reservists. We are proud to have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and be one of 64 NHS organisations to be named a Veterans Aware employer, achieving Gold Employer standard in 2022.
  • Our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion plan ‘One Service for All’ 2023-2027 sets out our clear commitment and action plan for how we will meet the needs of our local people and workforce. Our Positive Action Officer project, working with people from ethnic minority communities and disabled people to raise awareness of our services, CPR and defibrillators, train people in basic first aid, and raise awareness of new employment opportunities and community volunteer roles, has been increasingly successful.
  • As an organisation we continue to lead the way in research; during 2023/23 our research team continued to work on internationally recognised studies, including a stroke telemedicine study which has expanded the use of telemedicine software allowing ambulance clinicians to video call stroke units directly, speeding up care and improving patient outcomes.
  • Our close relationship with Newcastle University has allowed us to develop a first responder scheme between NEAS and the University’s Students’ Union.