Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-06-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the reason for, and what action they are taking to address, the deterioration in ambulance 999 response rates.
Earl Howe
The following table shows performance against the response time standards for all ambulance trusts in England in the last two financial years.
Table: Monthly performance of ambulance trusts in England for category A calls, 2012-13 and 2013-14
|
Year |
Month |
Of all Category A calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes |
Of all Red 1 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes |
Of all Red 2 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes |
Of all Category A calls resulting in an ambulance arriving, proportion within 19 minutes |
|
2012-13 |
April |
76.2% |
– |
– |
96.7% |
|
2012-13 |
May |
74.8% |
– |
– |
96.3% |
|
2012-13 |
June |
– |
75.6% |
77.5% |
96.6% |
|
2012-13 |
July |
– |
75.3% |
77.4% |
96.4% |
|
2012-13 |
August |
– |
75.1% |
78.1% |
96.5% |
|
2012-13 |
September |
– |
75.1% |
75.9% |
95.9% |
|
2012-13 |
October |
– |
74.9% |
76.5% |
96.2% |
|
2012-13 |
November |
– |
73.2% |
76.0% |
96.1% |
|
2012-13 |
December |
– |
70.4% |
70.8% |
94.6% |
|
2012-13 |
January |
– |
73.5% |
75.8% |
95.8% |
|
2012-13 |
February |
– |
74.1% |
75.3% |
95.9% |
|
2012-13 |
March |
– |
73.4% |
73.8% |
95.4% |
|
2012-13 |
Full year |
75.5% |
74.0% |
75.6% |
96.0% |
|
2013-14 |
April |
– |
75.4% |
76.0% |
96.4% |
|
2013-14 |
May |
– |
77.9% |
77.8% |
96.9% |
|
2013-14 |
June |
– |
77.4% |
77.1% |
96.7% |
|
2013-14 |
July |
– |
75.5% |
74.0% |
95.8% |
|
2013-14 |
August |
– |
77.0% |
75.3% |
96.2% |
|
2013-14 |
September |
– |
75.1% |
73.8% |
95.9% |
|
2013-14 |
October |
– |
74.6% |
73.6% |
96.1% |
|
2013-14 |
November |
– |
74.1% |
73.0% |
95.9% |
|
2013-14 |
December |
– |
72.8% |
71.7% |
95.4% |
|
2013-14 |
January |
– |
76.4% |
76.3% |
96.4% |
|
2013-14 |
February |
– |
75.2% |
74.0% |
96.0% |
|
2013-14 |
March |
– |
76.2% |
74.7% |
96.1% |
|
2013-14 |
Full year |
– |
75.6% |
74.8% |
96.1% |
Source: NHS England, ambulance quality indicators
Notes:
1. Ambulance service response times were split in June 2012 in to the most time critical (Red 1) and serious but less time critical (Red 2).
2. Category A Red 1 calls are the most time critical and cover cardiac arrest patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse, and other severe conditions.
3. Category Red 2 calls are serious but less immediately time critical and cover conditions such as stroke and fits, and a new clock start will allow call handlers to get more information about patients.
4. Category A19 is the total number of Category A calls (Red 1 and Red 2) which resulted in a fully equipped ambulance vehicle (car or ambulance) able to transport the patient in a clinically safe manner arriving at the scene within 19 minutes of the request being made.
The Government is aware of the increasing demand on urgent and emergency care services. The Urgent and Emergency Care Review is currently considering whole system change to the delivery of urgent and emergency care, including new models of delivery of care for ambulance services. The first phase of the review was published last November, and we expect NHS England to be publishing further reports later this year.
