NW Ambulance service hits category A8 target

The trust responded to 76.6 per cent of A8 calls within the required time, against a national target of more than 75 per cent, its latest performance report shows.

However, it responded to 94.63 per cent of A19 calls within the timeframe, against a national target of 95 per cent.

The report added: “The weather conditions again during October made for hazardous driving conditions with localised flooding on occasion. This has resulted in restrictions on the ability of ambulances to drive at high speed in order to meet the response targets.

“The continued increase in activity has contributed to ambulances congestion at Hospital sites across the NW with delays in turnaround times. This compounds the resource versus activity gap and contributes to cases of delayed response to patients.

“In order to address the issues above and ensure trajectory delivery going forward a number of measures have been taken.

These included “additional targeted resources”, the “development of various initiatives in partnership with local providers and commissioners to impact on local performance challenges”, non-recurrent resource funding and additional ambulance liaison officers.