Yorkshire Ambulance Service failing to hit response time targets

Data from NHS England reveals that the proportion of the most serious Category A (Red 1) calls resulting in an emergency vehicle arriving at the scene within eight minutes was 74.6 per cent nationally in October.

This falls short of the 75 per cent target and compares with an average of 74.7 per cent from October 2012 to September 2013.

While the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS), met this target with 79.3 per cent, it failed to meet the same target for Category A (Red 2 ) calls, responding to 74 per cent of calls in eight minutes.

Red 1 calls are the most time-critical and cover severe conditions such as heart attack patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse. Red 2 calls are serious and cover conditions such as stroke and fits.

As reported in The Press, concerns were raised in October about the length of time it is taking ambulances to reach 999 patients in the York area.

Figures showed 71.4 per cent of the most serious Red 1 medical emergencies were being reached in eight minutes but 28.6 per cent have not been met in the year to date.

Meanwhile, 74.5 per cent of other life-threatening emergencies in the York area classed as Red 2 have been reached within eight minutes, breaching target times.

Paramedics have warned double-manned ambulances in York and Selby are being cut and and replaced by cars with one paramedic.

They said cars were sent to patients to meet target times but patients then had to wait longer for an ambulance to actually take them to hospital.