Surrey Ambulance Service (SAS) was the ambulance service for the County of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was formed in 1948 and became part of South East Coast Ambulance Service on 1 July 2006.

History

Surrey Ambulance Service (SAS) was founded in 1948 and was initially run by the county council. On its formation, the service ran 48 ambulance stations, 16 of which were staffed on a part-time basis. The headquarters were originally at

New Malden New Malden is a suburban area in southwest London, England. It is within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston upon Thames, Kingston, Norb ...

, but moved to

Banstead Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, London, Sutton, south-west of Croydon, north of Reigate, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Dow ...

in November 1964, in advance of the creation of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. On 1 April 1965, SAS ceased to provide ambulance services to the new

London Borough The London boroughs are the current 32 districts of England, local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London, England; each is governed by a London borough council. The present ...

s of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, Kingston, Merton,

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

and Richmond. On the same date, SAS began providing ambulance services to Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames Urban Districts, which had previously been part of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. In 1974, responsibility for SAS passed to East Surrey Health Authority. In January 1988, the service took over operations in northeast

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, including the Farnborough ambulance station in Hawley Lane. By expanding its operations into the neighbouring county, it became the sole ambulance operator for Frimley Park Hospital. A new £1M control centre opened at The Horseshoe, Banstead on 11 January 1991. In 1992, Surrey Ambulance Service was managed by East Surrey Health Authority as part of the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

(NHS) and operated 17 ambulance stations. It served an area of around in Surrey and northeast Hampshire. Authorisation to become a self-governing

NHS trust An NHS trust is an organisational unit within the National Health Services of England and Wales, generally serving either a geographical area or a specialised function (such as an ambulance service). In any particular location there may be several ...

was granted in February 1994 and took effect that April. In December 2020, SAS served 1.1 million residents from 19 stations across Surrey and north-east Hampshire. It also provided ambulance services for

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

. On 1 July 2006, SAS merged with neighbouring services in Sussex and Kent to form South East Coast Ambulance Service. The Banstead centre was the headquarters for the combined organisation until mid-2018.

Fleet

In 1998, the majority of the emergency ambulances operated by SAS were derivatives of the

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a panel van, cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford ...

with 2.9-litre Cologne V6 petrol engines and

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (AT) or automatic gearbox is a multi-speed transmission (mechanics), transmission used in motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving conditions. The 1904 ...

. In 1999, eight new ambulances, based on the

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

3500 chassis-cab with 5.6-litre V8 petrol engines, were acquired.

References

{{UK ambulance service, state=collapsed Defunct NHS trusts Health in Surrey History of Surrey Defunct ambulance services in England

History

Fleet

See also

References