EMERGENCY patients in need of ambulances in the Evesham area are set to benefit from the introduction of a brand-new, fully air conditioned ambulance following an investment of more than £460,000 by the Hereford and Worcester Local Delivery Unit of West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

The cash investment of £462,000 has been ploughed into seven new ambulances, delivered across Herefordshire and Worcestershire and are all fitted with air conditioning both in the driving cab and in the back of the vehicle.

Interim general manager for the Hereford and Worcester Local Delivery Unit, Frances Martin, said: "We ordered the new vehicles last year and the fact that they are ready for operational use in the current heatwave is very timely."

She added: "An emergency ambulance covers an average of 45,000 miles a year. They get a lot of wear and tear so it's important we have an ongoing plan to update our fleet to provide a high quality emergency service to patients in Herefordshire and Worcestershire."

The ambulances, which are built by Renault and adapted by AC Papworth, have additional technology including radio communications, mobile data terminals and state of the art medical telemetry which has been fitted by the ambulance service workshop staff in Worcester.

From the beginning of this month, Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service joined forces with the Coventry and Warwickshire and West Midlands Ambulance Services to create a new service trust which is now called the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust.