Our Patient Plan 2025-2030

By 2030, the East of England Ambulance Service wants everyone to get the right care, every time, whether the problem is urgent or life threatening.

Ambulance demand is rising; people’s needs are more complex, and people often wait longer than they should. The traditional view of ambulances mainly taking people to hospital is no longer the reality. We need to provide a service that:

• Helps you to get the right help much earlier
• Uses specialist clinical advice sooner
• Works closely with GPs, local nurses and clinical staff, mental health services and hospitals
• Reduces unnecessary trips to hospital.

This plan explains how we will do that and what it will mean for you, our patients, our people, and NHS partners.

We are changing how care is provided so you get clearer advice, faster answers and better support in your area. We will focus on three big improvements:

Providing excellent emergency care

We will speed up emergency responses and make sure highly trained staff reach the sickest patients quickly.

Helping people reach the right care quickly

We will integrate 999, 111, and our telephone clinical help line so you get consistent advice when you call.

Supporting neighbourhood and community care

We will work closely with local clinical staff so more of you can be treated safely at home when suitable.

These changes will give you a smoother, safer journey through the NHS.

By 2030, your experience will feel:

Easier: You will get clear advice straight away, without telling your story many times.

Faster: More highly trained staff will be there for you early in the process, meaning you get quicker answers.

Safer: We will use better digital tools and shared information to help make the best decisions about your care.

More personalised: Not everyone needs an ambulance or a hospital trip. If your condition is safe to manage closer to where you live, we will help you find:

• Urgent treatment centres
• your GP
• mental health services
• other health teams
• or provide safe selfcare advice with follow-up.

Better for true emergencies: Because we will send ambulances only when they are genuinely needed. Wait times for life-threatening emergencies will improve.

For our people to give you the best care, they need the right tools, training and support.

By 2030, our workforce will have:

Better information and digital tools: We will see real-time information about you and local services, helping to make safe decisions quickly.

Clearer roles and career pathways: We will expand advanced practice roles, improve training across 111 and 999 call centres, and create clear clinical and non-clinical routes for promotion.

Stronger teams and leadership: Leaders will provide more regular support, and staff will work in connected teams.

Improved wellbeing: Better leadership, clearer expectations and mental health support will reduce burnout and sickness.

By 2030, partners such as hospitals, GPs and local care teams will see:

Better coordination: We will share information safely, reduce delays and avoid unnecessary handovers.

Earlier involvement: Community, mental health and local care teams will be involved earlier in patient care when suitable.

More reliable performance: Emergency wait times will improve.

Clear referral pathways: Everyone will know how to connect patients to the right service quickly.

A more proactive partner: As the only regional provider for UEC we have a unique opportunity to share our expertise and experience across the region.

To make the future care model happen, we are delivering three major programmes of work.

Programme 1: Helping You Reach the Right Care

We will integrate 999, 111 and our telephone clinical helpline.

What will change

• You will get the same advice, no matter how you contact us.
• Clinicians will be involved sooner to support and guide decisions.
• Digital tools will show staff real-time information about local services.
• Shared referral routes will make it easier to get you to the right place, first time without delay.

What success looks like

• More of you safely treated without needing an ambulance (up to 30%).
• Fewer repeat calls within 24 hours.
• Faster, more accurate telephone decisionmaking.
• More direct referrals into your local services.

Programme 2: Excellent Emergency Care

We will improve how we respond to life-threatening and serious emergencies.

What will change

• More senior clinical supervision in control rooms and on scene.
• Better use of rapid response cars, advanced clinicians and trained volunteers.
• Real-time digital tools will support decision making.
• We will help patients access the right care for frailty, cardiac (heart), respiratory (breathing), endoflife and other key conditions.

What success looks like

• Faster response times: meeting Category 1 (Immediately life-threatening) at 7 minutes and Category 2 (Urgent) at 18 minutes more reliably.
• More reliable clinical care across the region.
• Improved survival rates in cardiac arrest.
• Safer emergency care with fewer patient safety incident and more compliments.

Programme 3: Care near to where you live

We will take a more proactive role in preventing crises by working with you and your local teams.

What will change

• Ambulance staff will work closely with local community teams, mental health services and GPs.
• We will use what we know works best across the region and reduce any unnecessary differences in care.
• Shared digital systems will allow safe access to real-time patient information.
• Senior staff will help identify and support people at risk of deterioration.

What success looks like

• Fewer avoidable hospital admissions.
• Better support for people with long-term conditions, frailty and end-of-life needs.
• Better care available to all regardless of where you live or work.
• EEAST becoming a key partner in your local health teams.

To support this change, we also need to change our systems, workforce and ways of working.

This will help us build the workforce needed for the future.

Key actions

• Increase senior and enhanced practice roles higher trained staff.
• Improve training across 111, 999, and our telephone helpline.
• Create clear clinical and non-clinical career development routes.
• Strengthen leadership and mental health support.
• Improve recruitment and workforce staff planning.

Outcome

A confident, well-supported team with the right mix of skills to deliver modern urgent and emergency care.

This focuses on updating our systems and processes.

Key actions

• Improve digital tools and the records we hold about you on our system.
• Use technologies such as AI to support decision-making.
• Make our office processes simpler.
• Modernise buildings and vehicles to help the environment.
• Use data to reduce differences and improve standards.

Outcome

A modern service that makes faster decisions, reduces unnecessary work and provides better value for money.

This Patient Plan describes how EEAST will change urgent and emergency care by 2030.

By improving how you get help, strengthening emergency care, and working more closely with local health services, we will become a service that is:

• Faster
• Safer
• More joined up
• About you
• More focused on preventing problems before they escalate

Our goal is simple: Every patient gets the right care, every time, delivered by skilled people, supported by modern tools, working alongside strong local partners.