Ambulance Response Times in North Wales Continue to Exceed Targets

Ambulance response times across Wales have continued to hit targets for the second successive month.

Response time figures released for July 2016 show that 75.3% of emergency responses to an immediately life-threatening illness or injury, known as red calls, arrived within eight minutes.

July was the second successive month that all local health boards across Wales met the national target since the introduction of a new clinical response model pilot last October, which prioritises the most critically-ill patients.

The number of calls the service dealt with was 3.4% up on the daily average in June 2016. In total there were over 39,500 emergency calls made to the Welsh Ambulance Service – an average of 1,277 calls per day.

Speaking about July’s figures, Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething said: “It is very encouraging to see that all LHBs in Wales have surpassed the national target for red calls for the second consecutive month, despite steadily rising demand.

“I want to thank Welsh Ambulance Service staff for their dedication to providing the help people need quickly, in spite of these pressures.

“Today’s statistics show that the new model we introduced last October is contributing to a rapid emergency response service for patients who really need it. People should feel confident the new system is putting a greater focus on the quality of care people receive and their outcomes.

“We have much to be proud of here in Wales, however we will not be resting on our laurels. The Welsh Ambulance Service – and the wider health and social care system – is already planning for the coming months and the difficult winter period.”

A breakdown of the figures show that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board received a total of 10,107 calls throughout July, with 404 classed as red calls.

Of these calls 391 had an emergency response sent to the scene – with 289 of the incident attended within eight minutes.

A total of 73.9% of calls in north Wales were attended with eight minutes.

Richard Lee, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Director of Operations, said: “We’re pleased to see that 75.3 per cent of patients across Wales who were critically ill or injured were reached within our all-important eight minute target response time during what was a busy month for the Trust in July.

“On average we responded to those in urgent need of our care, who may have suffered a cardiac arrest or another serious medical condition, within five minutes and five seconds.

“It’s also very encouraging that for the tenth month in a row we have hit the national target and for the second month running we have hit the target in every single health board area, ensuring that patients around the country received a timely response regardless of where they live.

“We want to thank our staff and volunteers for their sterling efforts in enabling us to achieve this level of service delivery for our patients.”

Earlier this week Wrexham.com reported that Welsh Ambulance Service had reduced the number of inappropriate 999 calls made to the service.