24/7 ambulance hub to be built in Ipswich
The East of England Ambulance Service says it will support nearly 100 staff.
The East of England Ambulance Trust is set to build a new 24/7 ambulance hub in Ipswich.
The new hub and three-storey car park will be located on a plot of land north of The Havens, within Ipswich’s Ransomes industrial estate, and will support 97 staff in the delivery of medical services.
Alan Adams, a senior paramedic, said the hub was essential in allowing the trust to deliver its services across the wider region.
He added that a new hub would help the trust retain its staff as several of its buildings were no longer up to standard, some of which date back to the 1950s.
Although the new hub would also include space for the storage of medical and other supplies, it would not be a base for emergency response.
Instead, paramedics would park on-site at the start of their shift and collect their emergency or non-emergency ambulance before leaving the site for a more local stationing point from which to respond to local emergencies.
The three-storey car park will allow for 70 staff places, 42 double-staffed ambulances, five response cars, eight visitor spaces, and two disabled bays — a 10-space cycle shelter was also in the plans.