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Cautious welcome for new ambulance response targets

Unions have cautiously welcomed an overhaul to ambulance responses targets that will see fewer 999 calls regarded as life-threatening.
Ambulance response targets

Unions have cautiously welcomed an overhaul to ambulance response targets that will see fewer 999 calls regarded as life-threatening.


From this autumn the expected ambulance response time in England
for the most serious calls will be seven minutes. Picture: iStock

The new system being introduced in England this autumn will lead to faster treatment for those needing it, saving 250 lives per year, according to officials.

But the move means millions of patients with conditions, including suspected stroke or heart attack – who were previously expected to have a paramedic on the scene within eight minutes – will now have a typical wait of no more than 18 minutes.

40 minutes

While 90% of these people must have a paramedic on the scene within a maximum of 40 minutes.

Experts from the University of Sheffield, who conducted a study into the move by NHS England, said there was no evidence it would lead to patient harm.

At present, half of 999 calls for an ambulance are considered life-threatening, and a paramedic is expected to be on the scene within eight minutes. This means a number of vehicles may be sent to respond, a quarter of which are stood down during the journey.

From this autumn, the most serious calls, such as when a person is not breathing or their heart has stopped, will be expected to have a response within seven minutes typically, with a maximum of 15 minutes for 90% of patients.

Four minutes to triage

Around four million calls a year will come under more relaxed targets and be classed as ‘emergency’. Call handlers will also be given up to four minutes to triage cases.

Unite said that the new guidelines had to be judged against a background of a recruitment and retention crisis among paramedics, and the continuing funding shortfall for the NHS. 

National officer for health Sarah Carpenter said: ‘We have been broadly supportive of the ambulance response times’ review, as the right vehicle needs to be sent in the right circumstances to provide the best care possible for patients. 

‘However, it is a situation that we will be watching closely in the months ahead as our paramedic members have continually reported that the ambulance service is under severe stress and pressure across England.’

RCN professional lead for acute, emergency and critical care Anna Crossley said the current system means that some vehicles have unnecessary journeys and the effect of the change will need to be monitored.

18-month trial

‘If it is proved to be effective and not causing an adverse problem then it is time to do something.’

An 18-month trial on 14 million 999 ambulance calls found that up to 750,000 more vehicles will be available to immediately respond to emergency calls each year under the changes.

Some 6.5% of the most serious calls received a faster response than at present, and more patients who needed to go to hospital got an ambulance first time.

Keith Willett, director for acute care for NHS England, said the evaluation programme had shown ‘that we can achieve a faster response to those who are the sickest and those with immediately life-threatening conditions’.


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