AN AMBULANCE control room has received accredited centre of excellence status for the 13th year in a row.

The control room, known as a clinical hub, is located in Bristol and handles 999 calls for the area around the city – including South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

The centre is one of three run by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) and also allocates calls to the air ambulances and Hazardous Area Response Team.

This award makes the clinical hub the only UK-based centre to have maintained continual accreditation for this period.

Accreditation status is awarded by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch who look at training of staff, management, quality improvement processes and dispatch protocols along with the compliance levels of the emergency call-handlers.

Paul Greatorex, senior clinical hub manager, said: “This is an exemplary achievement. Without the Emergency Medical Dispatchers who are so committed to their role and the positive impact they have on patient care, this award would not be possible.

“The supervisors, managers and audit team who support the staff are also an invaluable part of the team and I would like to thank everyone for their hard work and for helping us to achieve Centre of Excellence status for another year.”

Ken Wenman, SWASFT chief executive, added: “I would like to echo the sentiments expressed by Paul. All our staff work hard to achieve the very best care for our patients and I am pleased to see that the North Clinical Hub has been recognised as a centre of excellence.”