Emergency Responders

Emergency Responders (ERs) are London Ambulance Service-trained volunteers who attend a range of emergency calls in Service uniform and in blue-light response cars.

Gary and Fabio stood in front of an ambulance car with The Shard in background — Emergency responders Gary and Fabio

They are currently based at Bromley, Forest Hill, Friern Barnet, Hillingdon, Ilford, Isleworth, Mill Hill, Pinner, St Helier, and Waterloo ambulance stations. Each station also has a volunteer ER Team Leader to support with admin and welfare.

Emergency Responders operate in charity-funded blue light vehicles and work under London Ambulance Service management and policies.

We currently have nearly 110 volunteers in our Emergency Responder team.

In 2023/4 they did 17,022 volunteer hours responding to emergency calls in London.

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Emergency Responders and the response to Covid-19

During the coronavirus pandemic, our volunteer responders – including ERs – played a huge role in helping us give Londoners the care they need.

ERs have been doing more shifts than ever before during the coronavirus: volunteering their time to respond in pairs in response cars, but also – for the first time – responding alongside ‘regular’ clinicians in ambulances.

In 2020, 23 per cent of total ER hours were on a double-crewed ambulance.

Hear from two Emergency Responders, Ben and Cornelius, on how they helped the Service during our response to the coronavirus in the below video. You can also read more profiles of volunteer responders and their contribution during the pandemic here.