Ambulance Services, December 2011

Statistics on ambulance services in Wales include data for December 2011.  The latest release, which has been revised to reflect the NHS Wales Annual Quality Framework 2011-12, updates the statistics previously released on 4 January.

The key points from the latest release are:

• there were almost 36,000 emergency calls, and of these, more than 14,000 were Category A (immediately life-threatening) calls;
• 64.8% (9,090) emergency responses to Category A (immediately life-threatening) calls arrived at the scene within 8 minutes, just below the all-Wales target of 65%
• performance at UA level ranged from 51.2% in Rhondda Cynon Taf to 79.5% in Conwy.

There have been changes to the ambulance services in Wales from 5 December 2011 to comply with the National Ambulance Performance Standards and focus the ambulance service more on improved clinical outcomes for patients. For details on the changes, please see the notes in the release.

As a result of these changes, users should note the following:

• data prior to December 2011 will not be directly comparable with data for this and future months;
• the total number of emergency calls will increase by around 4,000 for December 2011 onwards;
• the number of Category A and Category C calls will increase for December 2011 onwards; and
• variation in performance against the targets and / or calls this month is partially due to these changes.

Further information

StatsWales website.

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 5086
E-mail: stats.healthinfo@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

7 March 2012