Ambulance Response Times and the Review Carried Out by the Welsh Ambulance Service

The latest quarterly statistics for the performance of the emergency ambulance service, namely the quarter ending on 31 December 2005, show that 82.6 per cent of responses to emergency calls arrived within target times.

That was achieved despite increasing demand which saw the highest recorded number of 999 ambulance calls—71,500, received in a single quarter. Over 35,000 of these calls were categorised as category A, immediately life-threatening calls, which require a first response within eight minutes.

A figure of 55.7 per cent of first responses to category-A calls arrived within eight minutes, 62.1 per cent within nine minutes and 67.3 per cent within 10 minutes, against a target of 75 per cent. I want the best possible ambulance service for the people of Wales and it is clear that the service currently being provided needs to improve, particularly in this important area of life-threatening calls. Measures are being taken to make this happen, including addressing staffing difficulties in the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust.

In March, the trust made two senior appointments to strengthen its management team. Roger Thayne, Chief Executive of Staffordshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, was appointed to act as interim chief executive, on a part-time basis, to cover the current chief executive who is on long-term sick leave. Mr Thayne’s deputy, Dr Anton Van Dellen, is assisting him, taking on the responsibility of director of operations—a post which became vacant following the retirement of the previous postholder.
Roger Thayne was formerly chief executive of Staffordshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust and, under his direction, it was consistently one of the highest performing ambulance trusts in England. I am sure that his interim appointment will be welcomed by both the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and the wider NHS community in Wales.

I am also pleased to advise you that a new chair has been appointed to the trust. Mr Stuart Fletcher will succeed the current chair, Mr Roy Norris, when he stands down from his term of office on 31 March 2006. Mr Fletcher is retired acting chief executive of Health Commission Wales and was previously chief executive of the Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust.

On the review of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust’s non-emergency patient care service, the service undertakes around 1.4 million non-emergency patient transport journeys each year. In August 2003, a serious incident occurred when a 93-year-old patient was transported home by the patient care service to the wrong address. She subsequently fell and injured herself and sadly died some weeks later in hospital. An independent external review was carried out into the events surrounding the incident to ensure that lessons could be learnt.

The review was undertaken by the chief executive of Blaenau Gwent Local Health Board with a written report presented to the Welsh Assembly Government Health and Social Care Department’s clinical risk committee and the boards of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust and the Vale of Glamorgan Local Health Board.

The report identified action already taken in response to the incident by the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust and made nine recommendations. An action plan to address the recommendations was drawn up by both trusts, which was then monitored by the relevant regional offices. In addition, a standard procedure was developed and agreed by the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and NHS trusts for the handover of patients between carers and ambulance and hospital staff to ensure consistency and reduce the risk of future error.
In the interim, all trust chief executives were asked to confirm in writing that they were satisfied that safe procedures were in place. The standard procedure was issued as a Welsh Health Circular in February 2005. Included within that was a requirement to review the effectiveness of these arrangements; that is now being taken forward by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales. The 2003 incident is currently under consideration by the courts.

I hope you are reassured that a great deal of work is being done to strengthen the management of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and to improve the performance of the ambulance service in Wales. The new management team at the trust, its commissioners, Health Commission Wales, and Welsh Assembly Government officials are working closely together to ensure that performance improvements already achieved are built upon and that we strive to deliver a first-class ambulance service for the people of Wales.