More than 200 new ambulances to be bought with government funding

The vehicles will be bought with £36.3m from the government

More than 200 new ambulances will be added to fleets around England with a £36.3m government investment.

The 256 vehicles will be funded by the Department for Health and Social Care, with more than half available for use this winter.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service is to buy 62 double-crewed ambulances with 25 more going to London.

East of England Ambulance Trust will use part of its £6.5m to refurbish and improve 10 ambulance stations.

The funding will also be used to create hubs at ambulance trust headquarters to make vehicles ready for service.

Health minister Stephen Barclay said it would help in the "challenging" winter.

'Better service'

"In some of the most worrying and vulnerable moments in our lives, dedicated ambulance staff are there; providing expert, calm and reassuring care to patients in often highly pressurised and sometimes dangerous situations," he said.

"They are there for us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so we want to make sure that in the 70th year of the NHS we're supporting them with state-of-the-art equipment, meaning they can provide a better service to patients."

The Department of Health and Social Care said the new ambulances would be more efficient than smaller first-response vehicles with a solo responder.

Prof Keith Willett, NHS England's medical director for acute care, said: "We welcome this additional funding, which will allow ambulance trusts to begin to invest in new fleets and infrastructure ahead of this winter, when we know they will once again come under pressure."

The £36.3m will be shared between the following trusts:

London Ambulance Service will increase its increase fleet with 25 double crewed ambulances.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust will add 25 double crew ambulances and make maintenance hubs in Leeds and Huddersfield.

East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust will increase its fleet with 37 new ambulance vehicles.

North West Ambulance Services NHS Trust will add 69 paramedic emergency service vehicles.

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust will increase its fleet with 63 additional ambulance vehicles.

East of England Ambulance Services NHS Trust will modify key sites to support services for winter.