Yorkshire Ambulance Service Misses Response Time Targets as Calls Increase 25%

Sunday, 9 October 2022 07:00

By Matthew Pells

Yorkshire Ambulance service says it has missed some it's response time targets over the last 12 months.

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service says it has dealt with nearly 1.3 million calls over the last year a 25 percent increase on the previous year.

Chief Exec - Rod Barnes - says they have fallen short of some of their response time targets.

The service says it's seen a 25 percent increase in the number of calls it receives, at around three thousand five hundred per day.

The average time taken to get to a category 1 emergency was 9 minutes and 16 seconds against a national target of seven minutes.

For category 2 calls the response time was double the national target at 36 minutes.

Chief Exec - Rod Barnes - says it shows the pressure the service is under.

In it's annual report The Yorkshire Ambulance service says:

"Like all other ambulance, health and community services across the country, we experienced significant operational pressures. This was exacerbated by a number of factors, including an increase in demand for category 1 patients in a serious or life-threatening condition, COVID-19
related staff absence, and delays in handing over patients at busy hospital emergency departments.

Our dedicated staff continued to do their best to respond as quickly as possible to all 999 calls, but we acknowledge that some patients had to wait longer for an ambulance response.

All emergency calls are categorised according to the nature of a patient’s illness or injury and those in a life-threatening condition are always prioritised."