New ambulance centre given nod by planners
£6.5m scheme will offer state-of-the-art facilities for staff
Plans for a new £6.5 million ambulance centre has been given the green light.
Work on the development at Bredgar Road, Gillingham, is expected to begin early next year and be fully operation in 2022.
It will have a new Make Ready Centre, which is a system of specialist teams of staff employed to clean, restock and maintain the trust’s fleet for the Towns as well as relocating 999 and NHS 111 operations centres from Coxheath and Ashford.
It is being funded by a previously announced £6.52 million of Government cash.
It means crews currently starting and ending their shifts at Medway and Sittingbourne stations will soon be able to do the same at the new centre.
Staff in Sheppey will continue to be stationed on the Island, which is currently undergoing a major refurbishment to upgrade and provide new education and training facilities.
John J O’Sullivan, an associate director at the ambulance service, said: “I’m really pleased the project has been given the go-ahead by Medway planners. “Our current emergency operations centre for the east of our region is outdated, lacks space and is no longer fit for purpose.
“Bringing our 999 and 111 operations under one roof provides us with greater resilience and enables the two services to work more closely together.” Operating unit manager for the Dartford and Medway SECAmb teams, Will Bellamy, said: “This is an important step in the development of the service we are able to provide our patients locally.
“The system is more efficient and gives crews modern facilities for training.”
“We will fully engage with all those the development affects ahead of go live in 2022.”