New figures show that West Midlands Ambulance Service is getting to more patients quicker than ever before.
| Call category | Target | February 2018 | February 2019 | Improvement |
| Category 1 | Mean response (7mins) | 07:03 | 06:44 | -4.5% |
| 90th percentile (15 mins) | 12:06 | 11:41 | -3.4% | |
| Category 2 | Mean response (18 mins) | 13:14 | 12:32 | -5.3% |
| 90th percentile (40 mins) | 24:22 | 22:49 | -6.4% | |
| Category 3 | Mean response (60 mins | 41:35 | 38:42 | -6.9% |
| 90th percentile (120 mins) | 1.36:47 | 1.27:31 | -9.6% | |
| Category 4 | 90th percentile (180 mins) | 2.42:23 | 2.01:34 | -25.1% |
The data, published by NHS England shows that the Trust has improved its performance in each of the four categories of calls that it is measured on. It also remains the only Trust in the country exceeding all of the standards.
Trust Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, says:
“This is excellent news for patients and is down to the incredible efforts of our staff, who work so hard in often difficult circumstances to ensure patients get the best possible care.
“The new ambulance response standards, which were introduced last year, have allowed us to prioritise those patients in greatest need, while ensuring that every call counts.
“What the figures show is that despite the number of 999 calls continuing to rise, response times have improved considerably.
“These response standards are helping to make real improvements to the way we treat patients, prioritising the people who need us most, for example those having a cardiac arrest.
“However, they have also allowed us to make changes that mean patients with conditions such as heart attacks and strokes get the right treatment much sooner, which is having a real benefit to those individuals long term outcomes, which is great news.
“This is a real team effort to achieve such high standards. That team starts with the staff who take our 999 calls, those that dispatch the vehicles as well as those who respond. We are now achieving our aim of putting a paramedic on every vehicle, the only Trust in the country doing so.”
