From left to right: Greg Cox (Divisional Director for Nottinghamshire at EMAS), Caroline Henry (Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire), Bill Kelly (Head of Operations for Nottinghamshire North), and Belinda Wilkinson (Station Manager for Newark Ambulance Station)
Leaders from East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and Nottinghamshire Police met in Newark today to discuss the success of a project which saw the sale of part of Newark Police Station to EMAS in order to maximise use of the site and increase value for money.
The savings generated by the development will be reinvested back into the communities served by Nottinghamshire Police and EMAS to help keep them safe and well.
Greg Cox, Divisional Director for Nottinghamshire at EMAS said: “This project shows to the people of Newark and the surrounding areas that both the ambulance and the police services are committed to staying in the local area and they can be reassured that they will retain those services in the town.
“There’s several benefits to this development because we already enjoy an excellent working relationship with our police colleagues and this will give us the opportunity to have a more localised understanding of how each service operates.
“This will give us an insight into how we can support each other in delivering the services we both provide to our local communities.”
In addition, we continue to be committed to providing our frontline colleagues with improved and modern facilities which both supports the operational requirements of our service but meets the day to day practical needs of our workforce.
Bill Kelly, Head of Operations for Nottinghamshire North at EMAS said: “This collaborative move ensures we can have improved training facilities for our staff.
“There are a lot of costs associated with the upkeep of our current station due to its age and rather than focussing on bricks and mortar, we can focus on the wellbeing of our colleagues who provide a crucial frontline service to our patients.”
Now that EMAS has secured ownership of the site previously used by police colleagues for training purposes and to interview victims of serious crime, refurbishment of the building will be undertaken before ambulance crews move in.
Police officers will still be on site and the public will still be able to use the police front counter to report crime as normal.
Commissioner Henry said: “I’m delighted we’ve been able to work with EMAS as our blue lights partner.
“It’s a natural fit to enable EMAS to be able to purchase the building on our site in order for us to be able to work more closely together.”