Data obtained from a Freedom of Information request has revealed how badly ambulance response times are being missed in most areas of England.
The statistics were split by category 1 calls, which is life-threatening illnesses or injuries and has a target of 7 minutes and category 2 which is for situations that have the potential to rapidly deteriorate like a stroke. That target is 18 minutes.
According to figures from the Official National Statistics 2023, in Northumberland, the North East Ambulance has an average of 8 minutes for category 1 calls, which is the longest in the North East region. However, it has one of the quickest times for category 2 calls with an average response of 30 minutes.
Whereas for the longest ambulance response time for call type 1 is 45 minutes and call type 2 is 4 hours 44 minutes.
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Deputy chief operating officer, Victoria Court said: " Over the last 12 months, we have employed 46 extra paramedics and increased our fleet with 16 additional double-crewed ambulances with additional investment from our commissioners to recover our response time performance.
“The committed and determined effort of all our staff on the road and in our emergency operations centres have made us the fastest ambulance service in the country to the most critically ill patients. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the Trust for their incredible hard work.
“Although the issues we face are not unique to the North East, we have implemented a plan to recover our category 2 performance with more staff, more vehicles and improved efficiency across our service. The results of this can be seen in the progress we’ve made in the last 12 months.
“However, we have also seen a significant increase in demand, way above what we expected, which has been a challenge across the NHS for all services.”
Claire Jobling, head of operations north, added: “We recently shared our response performance data with the health overview and scrutiny committee at Northumberland County Council.
“Our evidence there highlighted that responses to some calls are longer because of the geography of the county. However, our performance to category 2 calls was quicker than the NEAS-wide average.
“We also utilise community paramedics and community first responders in the area to deliver medical assistance."
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