Revealed: Bid to overhaul key emergency target

National officials are in talks about a major overhaul of the ambulance response time target that covers more than half of emergency calls.

Category 2 is by far the largest group of ambulance incidents, at 51% covering relatively minor concerns up to suspected heart attacks and stroke.

Their formal target response time is 18 minutes. This has rarely been met at a national level, but – in the wake of a huge rise and outcry from 2022-24 – there has been a big improvement over the past year. The NHS is trying to meet a 30-minute recovery target this year, which falls to 25 minutes in 2026-27.

However, ambulance leaders are now suggesting major changes be made to how their providers are measured for Category 2 calls, including putting more weight on care quality indicators and less on response time.

Speaking to HSJ,  Association of Ambulance Chief Executives chair Jason Killens also floated the possibility of splitting Category 2 into more and less urgent incidents, allowing the latter to have a slower response. This has not yet been formally put forward by AACE or discussed with NHSE.

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Source: HSJ, 3 February 2026