Data obtained by OTS News shows that Southport residents wait longer for ambulances than emergency calls placed nationally or within the North West.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, OTS News asked the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) to confirm the average wait times of calls for the last twelve months coming from a PR8 or PR9 address.
The data shows that, for months, the time taken for an ambulance to arrive at a call placed from a PR8 or PR9 postcode will normally be longer than a call placed elsewhere in England or the North West.
NWAS say the gap is caused by increased demand and “periodically high levels of staff illness.”
The call response times are measured in two different ways: the ‘mean time’ (a straight average) or ’90th percentile’ – the amount of time it takes to respond to nine out of ten calls.
These above-average wait times include C1, the most urgent call classification, indicating the patient has stopped breathing or needs urgent life-saving treatment.
From October 2021 to April 2022, it took NWAS one to two minutes longer to respond to a Southport patient needing life-saving care compared to the rest of the country.
For C1, it took four to seven minutes longer to reach the 90th percentile figure in PR8 and PR9 against the North West average from October until last month.
The NHS target is to respond to 90 per cent of Category 1 calls in 15 minutes. NWAS has not achieved this average for Southport since April 2021.
For C2 (where patients have a serious condition such as a stroke or chest pain), patients waited on average between 47 mins and 1hr 12 mins for an ambulance to arrive. In December 2021, the Southport average was 28 minutes slower than the rest of England.
The NHS England 90th percentile target for C2 calls is 40 minutes. The data received by OTS News did not show PR8 and PR9 calls being responded to in that time frame at any point in the past year.
OTS News understands that ambulances based in Southport are less likely to return to base than vehicles in other areas of the region due to heavy and concentrated populations elsewhere. Where a Southport vehicle has to transport a patient for specialist treatment in another town, the vehicle is likely to stay in that area rather than return to Southport.
Sector Manager Stuart Ryall said on behalf of NWAS: “We work hard to ensure everyone who needs an ambulance gets one as quickly as possible, prioritising life-threatening emergencies. Ambulances are allocated to an incident if they are the nearest available resources. This can mean a crew could start a shift in Southport, convey a patient to a hospital in Aintree and then respond to a different incident out of the area. Equally, an ambulance from Fazakerley could end up responding to a patient in Southport.
“Over the last two years, the ambulance service has faced many challenges, including increased demand, particularly in more serious incidents and periodically high levels of staff illness. This has led to some patients waiting longer than we would like.
“We continue to work closely with local hospital trusts to minimise handover delays and have several initiatives including the local Falls Team who can go to treat elderly and vulnerable patients in a car without needing an ambulance or hospital treatment.”
Ambulance services across England have come under increased scrutiny over rising wait times. Commentators say rising A&E handover times, and reduced access to GP surgeries have undoubtedly had a significant effect on wait times.
Responding to a national rise in ambulance wait times, an NHS spokesman said in May: “The NHS has been working hard to reduce ambulance delays and £150 million of additional system funding has been allocated for ambulance service pressures in 2022-23.
“There is no doubt the NHS still faces pressures, and the latest figures are another reminder of the crucial importance of community and social care, in helping people in hospital leave when they are fit to do so, not just because it is better for them but because it helps free up precious NHS bed space.”
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