An investment of £26 million for East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) will see 400 extra members of staff and 40 more ambulances in the region by 2029, according to the organisation.

The service, which covers Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, announced the additional funding on Tuesday June 23, alongside a recruitment drive for future crews.

Plans are in place for most 200 additional staff by October 2026, and another 200 in 2027, according to EMAS, which currently employs 5,000 members of staff to serve an area with a population of five million.

Will Legge, deputy chief executive at EMAS, said: “This investment will make a real, positive impact to the service we provide our patients.

EMAS is hoping to have 40 more ambulances on the streets by 2029. Photo: EMAS.

placeholder image — EMAS is hoping to have 40 more ambulances on the streets by 2029. Photo: EMAS.

“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.”

The service hopes the investment will support wider plans to “continue improving ambulance response times across the region”, after figures last year revealed wait times for an ambulance in Northamptonshire were deemed to be one of the worst in the country.

However, EMAS says it has already made progress, as the average category two wait time – which is categorised as emergency calls, such as those experiencing chest pains and stroke patients – has already started to fall across the East Midlands region. According to the service, the average wait time from April 2024 to March 2025 was 43 minutes and eight seconds. In April 2025 to March 2026 it was 38 minutes and 51 seconds and in April this year it was 29 minutes and 50 seconds.

To aid in the bid to get more staff on the front line in the next three years, EMAS has this week opened job applications for qualified technicians and urgent care assistants, as well as qualified mechanics, to maintain the new fleet of ambulances.

Recruitment for qualified paramedics will continue throughout the year, with opportunities advertised on the EMAS website and social media channels.