The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SWAST) has announced that it will be spending around £4m on new services.

SWAST says it is recruiting a further 246 paramedics, along with 119 emergency care practitioners over the next three years.

Emergency care practitioners are registered paramedics with an enhanced set of skills similar to that of a district nurse.

The £4m investment will also mean that an additional 23 new ambulances and 15 rapid response vehicles will be on the road.

Ken Wenman, SWAST chief executive, said he was pleased with the ongoing investment programme.

"I am delighted that the trust is able to fulfill the pledge that it made to members of the public and to staff following the trust reconfiguration in July 2006 in terms of continuing financial investment in their local ambulance service.

"Long gone are the days when we were just a transport service which picked up patients and ferried them to hospitals for treatment.

"Ambulance crews are now trained and competent in a range of diagnostics so that they can respond with the right treatment or if appropriate take patients to the right healthcare centre which might not always be a large A&E department but perhaps a community hospital that has also changed its workforce to deliver more closer to home care.

"We now form part of a dynamic healthcare workforce for the South West that can respond faster and more appropriately to a plethora of presenting patient healthcare needs."

The SWAST serves the people of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.