Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
The Launceston General Hospital (LGH) is one of the three main public hospitals in Tasmania, Australia. It is located in Launceston and serves the north of the state. Services provided include Cardiology, Renal, Gastroenterology, Haematology-Oncology, Rehabilitation, General Surgery, Ear/Nose/Throat surgery, Plastic surgery, Orthopaedics, Radiology, Paediatrics and an Intensive Care Unit, Psychiatry:Inpatient Mental Health Unit and Consultation-Liaison.
The British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS) is an ambulance service that provides emergency medical response for the province of British Columbia, Canada. BCAS is one of the largest providers of emergency medical services in North America. The fleet consists of 658 ground ambulances operating from 183 stations across the province along with 283 non-transport support vehicles. Additionally, BCAS provides inter-facility patient transfer services in circumstances where a patient needs to be moved between health care facilities for treatment. BCAS also operates a medical evacuation program that utilizes both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.
A paramedic in Australia is a health care professional who holds a minimum of a Bachelor's Degree in Paramedicine and is registered with the Paramedicine Board of Australia via the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) As of December 2021, there are over 22,500 registered paramedics in Australia, of which approximately 70% (15,750) work for a jurisdictional service, and of which 47% of which are female. Paramedics in Australia may undergo further training and complete a Master's Degree to specialise in either Intensive Care or Primary Care medicine.
NSW Ambulance, previously the Ambulance Service of NSW, is an agency of NSW Health and the statutory provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) is an ambulance service that serves the whole of Northern Ireland, approximately 1.9 million people. As with other ambulance services in the United Kingdom, it does not charge its patients directly for its services, but instead receives funding through general taxation. It responds to medical emergencies in Northern Ireland with the 300-plus ambulance vehicles at its disposal. Its fleet includes mini-buses, ambulance officers' cars, support vehicles, RRVs and accident and emergency ambulances.
The Scottish Ambulance Service is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government.
The Australian Capital Territory Ambulance Service (ACTAS) is responsible for providing emergency and non-emergency ambulance services to the ACT community. Although existing since 1955 it was established in legislation by the Emergencies Act 2004 (ACT).
The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service is a helicopter surf lifesaving service that operates in Australia.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) is the NHS ambulance service covering most of Yorkshire in England. It is one of ten NHS Ambulance Trusts providing England with emergency medical services. As part of the National Health Service it receives direct government funding for its role.
In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is only free to UK residents and a charge may be made to those not entitled to free NHS care.
Emergency Medical Service in Germany is a service of public pre-hospital emergency healthcare, including ambulance service, provided by individual German cities and counties. It is primarily financed by the German public health insurance system.
SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) is a State Government agency under SA Health, that provides emergency ambulance transport, clinical care and non emergency patient transport services to over 1.5 million people, distributed across an area of 1,043,514 square kilometres in South Australia, Australia.
Emergency medical services in Australia are provided by state ambulance services, which are a division of each state or territorial government, and by St John Ambulance in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Emergency medical services in New Zealand are provided by the Order of St John, except in the Greater Wellington region where Wellington Free Ambulance provides these services. Both have a history of long service to their communities, St John since 1885 and Free beginning in 1927, traditionally having a volunteer base, however the vast majority of response work is undertaken by paid career Paramedics. Strategic leadership of the sector is provided by NASO which is a unit within the Ministry of Health responsible for coordinating the purchasing and funding of services on behalf of the Ministry and the Accident Compensation Corporation.
The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) is the state emergency ambulance and patient transport provider in Queensland, Australia. QAS is part of the Queensland Government under the Queensland Health portfolio and is one of the largest ambulance services in the world.
Ambulance Victoria (AV), a Victorian agency of the Department of Health, is the statutory provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in Victoria. Ambulance Victoria was formed on 1 July 2008 with the merger of the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS), Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV), and the Alexandra District Ambulance Service (ADAS). Ambulance Victoria has undergone significant reform since 2008.
SAAS MedSTAR is the specialist emergency medical retrieval service for the state of South Australia. MedStar is operated by SA Health through the SA Ambulance Service and is designed to respond to trauma, medical and disaster emergencies anywhere within the state. MedSTAR Kids is the paediatric and neonatal service provided by MedSTAR.
Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of urgent medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation and rescue operations.
