MERSEY Regional Ambulance Service has taken on 17 new Fiat Ducatos for the Mersey Ambulance Patient Transport Service. The Patient Transfer Service makes up to 3,500 patient journeys to 260 treatment centres in the Cheshire and Merseyside areas each day and employs 300 staff.

The service's 24-hour control centre in Chester controls a fleet of 186 ambulances. The new Fiats will replace Renaults. A spokesman for the ambulance service said: 'A key objective for this year has been further replacement of PTS Ambulances. Patients and the ambulance assistants who convey them have taken part in surveys aimed at improving the quality and comfort of the service we provide and their comments help us to implement our policy of continuous improvement.'