Ambulance Services: Standards
(asked on 15th November 2021) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current average ambulance waiting time across all NHS ambulance trusts in England; which NHS ambulance trusts in England have the longest waiting times; how this compares to ambulance waiting times in 2019; and how many safety incidents there have been in NHS ambulance trusts in England in 2021 as a result of waiting times.
The following table shows the mean average waiting times in hours, minutes and seconds in each category for ambulance trusts in England in October 2021 and compared to October 2019.
| Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 |
October 2019 | 00:07:23 | 00:23:47 | 01:14:48 | 01:28:57 |
October 2021 | 00:09:20 | 00:53:54 | 03:09:58 | 03:37:00 |
Change | +00:01:57 | +00:30:07 | +01:55:10 | +02:08:03 |
Source: NHS England
South Western Ambulance Service (SWAS) has the longest mean waiting times across England for Categories 1 and 2. West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) has the longest mean waiting times across England for Categories 3 and 4. The following table shows the mean average waiting times in hours, minutes and seconds for SWAS in Categories 1 and 2 and WMAS for Categories 3 and 4 in October 2021 and compared to October 2019.
| SWAS | WMAS | ||
| Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Category 4 |
October 2019 | 00:07:02 | 00:28:19 | 00:54:03 | 01:15:37 |
October 2021 | 00:11:48 | 01:24:25 | 03:59:45 | 04:47:07 |
Change | +00:04:46 | +00:56:06 | +03:05:42 | +03:31:30 |
Source: NHS England
The information requested on the number of safety incidents in National Health Service ambulance trusts as a result of waiting times is not held centrally.