Archbishop conducts official opening of ambulance station

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, conducted the opening ceremony for the 2m development at Yearsley Bridge in the city.

The new base is strategically located close to York Hospital and complements an existing ambulance station in Haxby and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust's stand-by points on Hull Road and in Acomb.

The trust's assistant director of accident and emergency operations for North Yorkshire, Vince Larvin, said: "We worked closely with staff throughout the move and they expressed their desire for a more modern base that had better access to various parts of York. The facility is a clinically clean and hygienic environment with all mod cons, including a new training room and a larger rest area.

"Over the years York has changed and demand for our service is vastly different to what it was when we were first at the city centre station.

"The new base will allow us to provide a more responsive service that is tailored to the current needs of our patients."

As well as housing four emergency ambulances, six rapid response vehicles, 11 patient transport vehicles and more than 80 staff, the new station boasts modern equipment and training facilities.

The station has been introduced to replace a base in Dundas Street; staff worked from temporary premises off Shipton Road from March until November last year.

The Yearsley Bridge station went operational at the end of last year, but yesterday's ceremony marked its official launch.

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which was formed on July 1, 2006, when the region's three former services merged, covers almost 6,000 square miles.

The trust employs more than 4,000 staff and provides 24-hour emergency and healthcare services to a population of over five million people.

It operates from 61 ambulance stations throughout the county, has two 999 communications centres at York and Wakefield, and receives an average of 1,800 urgent and emergency calls every day.