£26m for new ambulances & crews in East Midlands

Millions of pounds is being invested in the ambulance service in the East Midlands to increase the number of vehicles and crews responding to emergencies.

The £26 million additional investment into East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) between 2026 and 2029 will be used to permanently grow the number of ambulances and crews available to respond to emergency calls.

By 2029, this will mean up to 400 additional patient-facing staff working on around 40 additional ambulances.

Recruitment is already well underway, with plans to welcome almost 200 additional staff to EMAS by October 2026, and another 200 in 2027.

Among the jobs currently being advertised are qualified technicians and urgent care assistants to join the frontline response as well as qualified mechanics, to maintain the new fleet of ambulances.

Will Legge, Deputy Chief Executive at EMAS, said:

“This investment will make a real, positive impact to the service we provide our patients. We now employ over 5,000 staff at EMAS. This continued growth will help us meet the challenge of growing demand for our service and create hundreds of new career opportunities. We’re looking forward to welcoming new passionate, caring colleagues to our EMAS team in the coming months.”