One of AACE’s key priorities is its ongoing commitment to creating and nurturing working environments where everyone can feel safe, included, listened to, and able to develop themselves within the ambulance sector.
Work is underway in all ambulance services to ensure that all concerns will be responded to appropriately and compassionately in order to improve the working lives and experiences of everybody working or volunteering in our ambulance services, regardless of their background, gender, race, disability or sexual orientation.
Here are three useful resources that reflect the national work that is underway to create and effect this cultural change:
- National Ambulance Strategic Partnership Forum (NASPF) collaborative statement, agreed in January 2025:
Our collaborative statement supporting cultural change in the ambulance sector outlines a collective commitment to work together in partnership to positively affect cultural change in the ambulance sector (in line with the principles set out in the National Ambulance Cultural Review; and the National Guardian’s Office Listening to Workers: A Speak Up Review of Ambulance Trusts in England); to create a healthy, inclusive and psychologically safe working environment for our people, underpinned by supportive and compassionate leadership.
- AACE position statement published in February 2025:
The ambulance service culture – environmental elements and improvement enablers statement was developed on behalf of the NHS ambulance sector with input from several key stakeholders and co-published in conjunction with the College of Paramedics and the University of Cumbria Centre of Excellence in Paramedic Practice. This was created to inform national dialogue about cultural change in the ambulance service and aims to provide a reference point for future change.
The NHS staff survey continues to shine a light and provide invaluable data on the working lives of people across the ambulance sector.
Despite many background challenges, this year showed encouraging improvement, with the ambulance sector improving against seven of nine response categories. Since the inception of the new People Promise metrics, the sector has shown continual improvement in each category.
However, both staff engagement and morale are below the five-year 2020 highs. The ambulance sector has improved against the national average for the People Promise indicators and summary-scores in all but one category (staff engagement), yet still remains the lowest NHS sector surveyed for each of the nine response categories.
