Ambulance name change

The region's ambulance trust has changed its name to reflect its newly-forged link with Wolverhampton University.

As of today, patient transport and emergency vehicles will display the name “West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust”, after the board changed the constitution to add the word “university”.

Service CEO Anthony Marsh assured the public the rebranding wouldn’t cost any extra money.

He said the new name will only be added to ambulances, signs and other equipment as and when they are replaced.

He was speaking at the meeting of the WMAS directors’ meeting, held at the service’s training academy in Dudley.

Mr Marsh said placing university status in the service’s branding made sense, given that the service already works closely with Wolverhampton and universities to train paramedics.

“The most of our staff touch universities in a way that ambulance professionals never have before, and it is only right that we formalise that,” he said.

As part of this new status, WMAS has been inspected by Ofsted and given a “good” rating – the highest available to it in its first year as a university trust.

He presented the consultation report to the directors, saying all of the comments, “good, bad or indifferent”, had been included.

Mr Marsh said: “Of the ones that are negative, the overwhelming majority of those were around the costs of rebranding.”

Mr Marsh said should not cause any worry, as the new logo was the same as the old one but for one word. The larger black writing will still read “West Midlands Amublance Service” while the smaller blue writing below will have the word “university” inserted into it.

The service would merge naturally into displaying its new name.

“Twelve years ago, when we merged, or six years ago, when we became a foundation trust, we didn’t rebrand the organisation,” he said.

“We just rebranded ambulances as and when they were replaced.

“We will do the same with this. ID cards and ambulances will have the new branding on them, as will ambulance stations when they open.”

Kim Nurse, the WMAS workforce and organisational chief, reassured the board that this deal with Wolverhampton would not preclude them from working with other universities.

“We’ve had letters back from two giving their support in principal and an email from another,” she said.

The board agreed to amend the service’s constitution to reflect the new name.

The rollout officially started on Thursday, November 1, and a launch event will be held on Wednesday, November 14.