Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce ambulance waiting times in (a) the East Midlands and (b) England.
Jane Ellison
Ambulance services are facing unprecedented demand, delivering over 2,800 more emergency journeys every day compared to 2010 and still continue to respond to the majority of life-threatening cases in under eight minutes.
The Department continues to work closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement to monitor and support performance across all ambulance trusts in 2015-16. In the longer term, NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Review will aim to tackle the root causes of the increasing demand on urgent and emergency care services.
East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust has put measures in place with local partners to address performance issues, including rapid handover protocols with hospitals, a significant recruitment drive, a sickness reduction plan for staff, and working with local NHS 111 providers to ensure that patients are sent the most appropriate response at the right time.
