Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of long ambulance transfer times for cardiac emergencies on (a) Suffolk and (b) nationally.

Cardiac emergencies include a range of potentially life-threatening conditions, such as cardiac arrest, which requires a Category 1 ambulance response, and heart attacks, which require a Category 2 ambulance response. These classifications come from the Ambulance Response Programme, designed to ensure the sickest patients receive the fastest response and that all patients get the right response the first time. Delays in response times are known to have impacts on patient outcomes.

The Government is determined to improve response times, and we have already seen improvements in both Suffolk and nationally. In the East of England, the latest figures show that Category 1 incidents were responded to in, on average, 8 minutes 37 seconds and Category 2 incidents in 32 minutes 35 seconds. This is faster than 9 minutes 1 second and 38 minutes 42 seconds, in July 2024. Nationally, the latest figures show that Category 1 incidents were responded to in, on average, 7 minutes 56 seconds and Category 2 in 28 minutes 40 seconds. This is faster than 8 minutes 15 seconds and 33 minutes 24 seconds, in July 2024.