Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle increased waiting times for ambulances in Dorset.

NHS England advice that there are a range of interventions to address increased waiting time for ambulances in Dorset. These measures aim to improve the flow of patients through accident and emergency departments, reduce waiting times and delays in the transfer of patients from ambulances and allow crews to respond to calls more efficiently.

This includes the earlier identification of patients needing complex discharge support and ensuring multi-disciplinary engagement in the discharge plans to increase bed capacity. An expected date of discharge is determined within 48 hours of admission. The operation of transfer of care hubs is being streamlined and demand and capacity modelling for local and community systems is being developed.

NHS England has allocated an additional £150 million for ambulance service pressures in 2022/23, supporting improvements to response times through additional call handler recruitment, retention and other funding requirements. A further £20 million has been invested in the upgrade of the ambulance fleet by reducing its age profile and fuel emissions while increasing productivity and capacity. Additionally, St John Ambulance has been contracted to deliver auxiliary ambulance services, providing national surge capacity of at least 5,000 hours per month as needed to support the ambulance response during periods of increased pressure, allowing National Health Service ambulance crews to respond to emergency calls.