Yorkshire Ambulance Service failing to hit crucial response time targets as service goes on highest level of alert

Busiest June ever for 999 calls

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) joins the country’s other 10 ambulance services in not being able to meet all four categories of call-out, which include reaching patients with life-threatening conditions within an average of seven minutes.

In addition to showing that none of the country’s 11 ambulance services reached the response time targets, the newly-released figures show for June 2022 show that last month was the busiest June ever for 999 calls, with almost 900,000 answered.

Response times for most serious life-threatening conditions

Category 1 incidents, which are classified as the most serious life-threatening conditions, such as heart attacks, and the target for reaching patients suffering from such conditions is seven minutes.

The figures show that YAS’ mean response time for attending a Category 1 incident last month was nine minutes, 30 seconds, which is two-and-a-half minutes below the expected target.

The London Ambulance Service and the North East Ambulance services came closest to meeting the target with each service recording a mean response time of 7 minutes, 33 seconds, while the South Western Ambulance Service had the worst mean response time of 11 minutes, 28 seconds.

Serious conditions such as strokes

The target for reaching patients undergoing Category 2 incidents, which are described as serious conditions such as strokes, is 18 minutes, and YAS averaged a mean response time of 43 minutes last month – 27 minutes below the target.

The Isle of Wight NHS Trust had the best mean Catergory 2 response time of 27 minutes, 53 seconds, and the worst mean response time was recorded by East Midlands Ambulace with one hour, 11 minutes and 51 seconds.

Response time target of 120 minutes

For Category 3 incidents, described as conditions such as late-stage labour or non-severe burns, ambulances are expected to reach patients within 120 minutes, and YAS recorded a mean response time that was more than three hours’ over the target, with five hours, 24 minutes and 27 seconds.

The Isle of Wight NHS Trust came closest to achieving the target with a mean response time of two hours, 50 minutes and 11 seconds, while the West Midlands Ambulance Service was furthest away, with a recorded time of 11 hours, four minutes and 30 seconds.

YAS’ mean response time more than double the target

Category 4 is the final call-out target, classified as illnesses like vomiting or diarrhoea, and ambulance services are required to aim to reach patients in this category within 180 minutes.

YAS’s mean response time for last month was six hours, 44 minutes – more than double the target – while the service with the best recorded mean time for reaching Category 4 patients was the North East Ambulance Service with a response of three hours, 58 minutes and 30 seconds.

West Midlands had the worst mean Category 4 response time of 12 hours, two minutes and 26 seconds.

‘Taken the decision to move to our highest level of escalation’

Commenting on the figures, a Yorkshire Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “An extremely high volume of calls is currently having a significant impact on both our 999 and NHS 111 operations.

“We have taken the decision to move to REAP Level 4, our highest level of escalation, and while the situation is being managed in line with the plans that we have in place to protect our core services, unfortunately there are patients who are facing delays and we are very sorry that we are unable to respond to them as quickly as we would like.

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“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. It’s important that members of the public only call 999 for an ambulance when it is a serious or life-threatening emergency. This will help us to focus our efforts on our most poorly patients.

“You can also help us by not calling back to check where the ambulance is as we need those phone lines to be free for those in a life-threatening condition. However, if the

condition of the patient changes or if you feel you no longer need an ambulance, it’s important that you let us know.

“For anyone with less serious illnesses and injuries, they should consider self-care, their local pharmacy, GP surgery, urgent care centre or making their own way to the emergency

department. Our NHS 111 service is also available online at 111.nhs.uk or by calling 111.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and thank all our hard-working staff and volunteers for their efforts at this challenging time.”

Situation ‘remains unacceptable’

Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the situation ‘remains unacceptable’.

He said: “Increasingly people will themselves, or had a friend or family member who has, experienced a long wait for emergency care or be on an NHS waiting list.

“Performance data now routinely illustrates that patients are continuing to experience overcrowding in acute care settings with flow throughout the system impaired.

“Patients are being stuck for extortionately long periods in emergency departments and acute medical units (AMUs) which results in worse patient outcomes.

“Due to this, paramedics are then stuck unable to transfer their patients into hospitals and get back on the road, resulting in 999 patients being left at home for longer periods without clinical assessment and treatment, driving public concern that they may not get an ambulance at their time of most need.”

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, added: “There is no doubt the NHS still faces significant pressures, from rising Covid admissions, thousands of staff absences due to the virus, the heatwave, and record demand for ambulances and emergency care.

“The latest figures also continue to show just how important community and social care are in helping to free up vital capacity and NHS bed space – supporting those in hospital to leave when they are fit to do so, which is also better for patient recovery.”