[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Regional Labour Assembly Members, Joyce Watson and Eluned Morgan, have welcomed news that the Welsh ambulance service is the only service across the UK that is hitting targets for responding to life-threatening calls (Red calls). Patients with life-threatening conditions – like cardiac arrests – are meant to be reached in eight minutes.
The performance figures came to light following Freedom of Information requests from the BBC. The figures released by the BBC today show that Wales is leading the way in the UK for speed of response to acutely ill patients, meeting the national target in every month in the first year of the pilot.
In September, 79.5% of Red calls received a response within eight minutes and the standard response time for Red calls was 4 minutes 38 seconds. This was the best performance since the beginning of the pilot and was the fourth consecutive month in which the target was met in all health board areas in Wales.
The clinically-driven changes are enabling patients to receive the right response based on their clinical need.
Joyce Watson said, “The ambulance service in Wales have worked really hard to get where they are today. The new clinical response model is working because it is putting a real focus on outcomes and greater focus on the quality of care people receive.
“The Welsh ambulance service is approaching winter in a much better position than in previous years. The national response time target for Red calls has been met in every month since the introduction of the clinical response model pilot in October 2015.”
Eluned Morgan added, “We know that when these changes were introduced there were some concerns about how they would deliver better outcomes for patients. But the old system let down ambulance crews, making it hard for them to arrive in time to reach patients and give vital treatment as well as take them safely to hospital”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
