It's all systems go for the region's new Ambulance Special Operations Centre (ASOC West)

Work is set to start on the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) Ambulance Special Operations Centre (ASOC West) – a brand new, operational ambulance facility that will provide a central response, training and administration facility for a range of the Trust’s specialist resources.

Operating 24/7, 365 days a year, the team of ambulance paramedics based at the new site will provide the NHS ambulance response to a range of demanding, technical and potentially hazardous incidents across the Trust’s operational areas of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset and the Isles of Scilly, as well as a rapid response ambulance service to the local area including the emerging community of Cranbrook and enterprises of Exeter and East Devon Growth Point.

Based on site at the new Skypark scheme*, situated to the North of Exeter Airport, the new ambulance facility will benefit from strong transport links with the M5 following the recent completion of two multi-million pound access points and Exeter Airport – enabling better access for South Western Ambulance Service across the South West**. Further benefits will include an innovative, state of the art E.ON Energy Centre which will provide a sustainable and cost-effective source of energy for all of Skypark’s occupiers.  

Rob Cross, Project Manager at South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, commented: “The Trust’s project team has worked closely with St. Modwen to bring about the delivery of this purpose-built operational ambulance facility. The Trust required a location that would enable it to respond to a wide range of incidents across the region as quickly as possible and at any hour of the day.”

South Western Ambulance Service’s HART (Hazardous Area Response Team) will be one of the first of the Trust’s specialist resources to occupy the development.

HART work alongside police and fire and rescue services within hazardous environments. Their role is to triage and treat casualties and to help save lives in exceptionally difficult circumstances, while also attending to other emergency personnel who may become injured when tasked to these difficult and challenging incidents.

The new, upgraded, Exeter base located within the Ambulance Special Operations Centre (ASOC West) forms one of two bases for the Hazardous Area Response Teams, with the other based in Bristol. From these bases, SWASFT HART provide a local, regional and national response capability.

Stuart Blatston, HART Manager at South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, commented: “Skypark provides us with the ideal location for the new facility and will guarantee the delivery of an effective and essential rapid response service for the South West because of the quick access to the motorway and the communities along the M5 corridor, as well as air support via Exeter Airport.”

*St. Modwen, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, is working with Devon County Council as the joint venture partner and developer of the new Skypark scheme.

**Includes the areas of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the Isles of Scilly.