Ambulance services hit crucial target

Ambulances reached some of the most seriously ill people within an average of 30 minutes last month – meeting a key NHS England target for the first time in more than a year.

Category 2 response times fell to 27m 25s in August, a fall of 6m from the previous month and the first time the 30m target imposed by NHS England’s urgent care recovery plan had been met since April 2023. These calls include suspected strokes and heart attacks.

The most serious patients – those in category 1, which includes cardiac and respiratory arrests – were reached in 8m 3s, the best performance since June 2021.

Both category 1 and category 2 responses were still outside the constitutional targets of 7m and 18m. However, the 30m interim target for category 2 calls has been a bellwether for how the NHS is delivering – last year ambulance trusts missed it with an average performance of more than 36m.

The position was helped by relatively low incident numbers in August, compared with recent months but also by a remarkable turnaround in performance by West Midlands Ambulance Services University Foundation Trust, which came close to hitting the 18m target at 18m 36s. In 2023-24 it averaged over 36m.

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Source: HSJ, 12 September 2024