West Midlands ambulance times remain steady - but still behind NHS target

NHS England data showed the mean response time for Category 1 calls at the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) was eight minutes, 11 seconds.

The figure, relating to last month, marked a marginal decline for the service which recorded a response time of eight minutes, 10 seconds the month before.

It was still short of the NHS target, as were the majority across England in responding to people with life-threatening illnesses, with the aim being seven minutes.

It comes after WMAS warned of a ‘catastrophic’ risk of harm over ambulance handover delays in hospital last year – delaying them from responding to other incidents.

For emergency calls, including stroke and other emergencies, the region’s service recorded a mean response time of 33 minutes, 36 seconds in February.

It marked an improvement from the 34 minutes, 44 seconds recorded in January and was faster than the England average of 42 minutes, seven seconds, but was still well above the 18-minute target.

A WMAS spokeswoman said: “The whole of the NHS remains under severe pressure which is being felt intensely in our service in the West Midlands and, unfortunately, long hospital handover delays do mean some patients are waiting longer for an ambulance to come to them in the community than we would want.”

“We are working with all local partners across the health and care system to reduce delays so crews can respond to the next incident as quickly as possible, and staff and volunteers continue to work tirelessly to respond as soon as we can.

“We are also continuing to bolster frontline and control room staffing and have introduced a number of measures to help manage pressures in the service.”

The figures mean WMAS is the third best performing ambulance service in the country, whilst January was the second worst month ever for hospital handover delays in the region.

Call assessors are also the best performing in the country with the latest data showing only 17 calls, out of almost 120,000 received, in February exceeded the two-minute call answering target

For Category 3 calls – urgent calls such as labour, non-severe burns and diabetes – the service averaged two hours, 26 minutes and 14 seconds last month, an improvement from the two hour, 35 minute and seven seconds average recorded in January. Across England the average was two hours, 16 minutes and 13 seconds. The target states that 90 per cent of calls should be reached within two hours.

Meanwhile the waiting list for NHS hospital treatment nationally continues to rise to record levels, with 6.1 million people on the list at the end of January. When it comes to the overall waiting list, the number of people having to wait more than 52 weeks to start treatment stood at 311,528 in January, up from 310,813 in the previous month and two per cent higher than the number in January 2021.

A total of 23,778 people were also waiting more than two years to start hospital treatment at the end of January, up from 20,065 at the end of December. This is around nine times the 2,608 people who were waiting longer than two years in April 2021.

NHS national medical director, Professor Stephen Powis, said: “Despite ongoing pressures our hardworking NHS staff delivered 280,000 more tests and checks for patients in January compared to the same time last year, and almost 1.24 million started consultant-led treatment, as more people continue to come forward for care who may have been reluctant to seek help during the pandemic.

“Staff across the country are determined to address the Covid-19 backlogs that inevitably built up throughout the pandemic, and while that cannot happen overnight, these figures show that through initiatives like one stop shops, Super Saturdays and high-intensity theatre lists, we are delivering more care for patients compared to the same time last year.

“As we have said throughout the pandemic and as these figures show, it is vital that anyone who has health concerns comes forward so that staff can help you with the best options for your care.”