Ambulance Services in the U.K formed after WW2 when an act of parliament was passed, The National Health Services Act 1946 which was set up to provide a health service to the whole of the U.K. It came into being on 5th July 1948 & lasted until it was replaced by The National Health Services Act 1977!!
Initially ambulance staff were volunteers, The Milar Report of 1964 changed that, making a recommendation that patients be treated en route to hospital. Training Schools were set up & recruits were trained in basic 1st Aid & other extended skills in the use of oxygen, Entonox etc, the cap badge they wore was a laurel leaf!
In 1974 the ambulance services transferred to The N.H.S. & the retro cap badges of 1974 replaced the earlier badges. These were again replaced in the late 1980’s & 90’s to the laurel wreath with the Q.C, these badges being mainly gilt enameled & termed as “ modern cap badge!
This Hampshire Ambulance Service cap badge is the retro 1974 cap badge lasting until the introduction of the laurel wreath cap badge in 1985.  It has the popular shape of a cross with the enameled county emblem in the centre, the Hampshire Rose! In very nice condition, lugs solid & intact to the rear & enamel perfect, a nice addition to the ambulance cap badge collectors, getting increasingly harder to obtain as they get older & the demand from new enthusiasts especially since the Covid Virus hit & ambulance service & medical badges shot up in price, many good cap badges are already in private collections!