Team members at the South Western Ambulance Charity have taken the time to transform the outdoor area at Kingsbridge ambulance station, as part of their ‘Green Spaces’ initiative.

Staff at the charity spent their time reworking the garden to give it an impressive new makeover. The transformation was made possible thanks to a grant from NHS Charities Together, an independent charity organisation that works to support the NHS. The charity launched their community partnership grants in September 2020, allocating £33 million “to support partnerships between the NHS and community organisations, helping to take pressure off the health service,” and it enabled volunteers to completely reform the garden.

The South Western Ambulance Charity was founded in 1995, and it aims to use donations to support staff and volunteers at the South Western Ambulance Service, improving the welfare of those involved in the ambulance service and helping local communities. They are funded by donations from those who wish to convey appreciation and support for all the hard work the ambulance service do, and have said that “many donate to say thank you for the care that they, or their loved one, has received from us.”

Currently, ambulance staff are under immense pressure as they deal with record numbers of callouts and huge handover delays, with crews often waiting for many hours, and sometimes the entirety of their 12 hour shifts. The delays stem from blocked up emergency departments due to hospitals being unable to discharge patients. This has caused huge waits for both ambulance crews and patients nationwide, with Derriford hospital in Plymouth seeing 20 people queuing in an overflow car park for over 11 hours.

This issue has been ongoing for quite some time, and was highlighted by the  South Western Ambulance Service’s executive director of operations back in November 2021, who said that the ambulance service in Devon and across the south west has “never experienced such a long period of sustained demand” .

At a time like this, ambulance crews need all the donations they can acquire. If you would like to donate, you can do so on South Western Ambulance Charity’s Just giving page: https://justgiving.com/southwesternambulancecharity