Public survey shows high levels of support and satisfaction for St John Ambulance & Rescue Service
6 August 2026
96% of people who used Guernsey’s emergency ambulance service in the past year rated their overall experience as good, very good or excellent, 97% of people were highly complementary of the level of respect and dignity they experienced and 98% rated the professionalism of ambulance crews as high or very high.
The findings were among a collection of positive results from the latest Patient Survey showing a significant level of public satisfaction with St John Ambulance & Rescue Service. The survey carried out by Island Global Research also highlighted the way ambulance crews involved patients in the decisions around their care and the satisfaction about the treatment and advice received.
The Non-Emergency Patient Transfer Service which transports patients to and from medical appointments also scored highly in the research with 93% of users rating their overall experience as good, very good or excellent and a similar number (92%) reporting the standard of care was high or very high.
The public was also asked about the annual ambulance subscription scheme, with 96% of members recommending the scheme to others and 86% of people agreeing or strongly agreeing that the subscription was good value for money.
For the first time, views were also sought about the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre (JESCC) which answers all 999 calls. 90% of respondents said their experience of JESCC was good to excellent, with 91% happy with the speed of answering and 92% praising the professionalism of the call taker.
Head of Operations, Dean de la Mare said: “The results of the survey reflect a high-level of care and compassion shown by our ambulance crews, both in the emergency and non-emergency services. Public support for the ambulance service and appreciation for our clinical staff remains very high. Patients were given the opportunity to add their own comments, with exceptional compassion, kindness and respect being mentioned by most respondents. The Ambulance and Rescue team was described as highly professional and competent. There were also many positive comments from patients who felt strongly that crews adapted support for vulnerable patients, especially those in distress, severe pain or with mobility issues. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank our ambulance crews for the exceptional service they deliver to our community every day.”
Mr De La Mare added: “The results are very similar to those of the last survey four years ago. Overall approval for the non-emergency patient transfer service has gone up while support for the emergency ambulance service remaining very high. There will always be areas of improvement and the results and the comments will help us develop the service and look at any areas that need addressing.”
“With regard to the subscription scheme, awareness of the scheme has improved and the vast majority of members and non-members felt it was value for money. 9 out of 10 people said it met their needs. The survey also showed the online payment option is easy to use. For some people the subscription scheme was felt to be too expensive, however the cost of a subscription is much lower than a single ambulance call-out and we do offer a monthly payment option and people can join at any time of the year.”
Other key results showed 22% of respondents said they were experiencing a life-threatening emergency when they called the ambulance, while 75% said their call was an emergency but not life threatening. Most people who were experiencing a non life-threatening situation did not consider phoning their GP first. 90% of patients who were treated at home and discharged on scene said they were satisfied with the decision.
The survey was carried out between February and April this year with almost 1500 responses.
