Paramedics surpass response targets

12:00am Thursday 16th October 2008

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AMBULANCES are reaching more patients in life-threatening situations in Herefordshire within the Government target time, say health chiefs.

Ambulance teams in the county have to get to 75 per cent of the most serious cases within eight minutes.

In September, West Midlands Ambulance Service achieved its highest response rate to these “Category A” calls in Herefordshire, reaching 83 per cent of cases within eight minutes.

Derek Laird, locality director said: “This is good news for patients with life-threatening conditions and is down to the hard work of staff.”

This has been achieved despite a change in the way response times are measured.

Before April 1 this year, the clock started after the call handler confirmed the number the caller is ringing from, the address of the emergency and the nature of the problem.

Under ‘Call Connect’, the clock starts from the moment the 999 call is put through to the ambulance control room, whether it has been answered or not. This effectively means the target time has been cut by up to 90 seconds.

The trust is in the process of introducing Medical First Responders (MFRs) to the county.

These are current members of ambulance staff who volunteer to respond when they are not on duty. Four MFRs will become operational later this month.

All GP surgeries in the county are now equipped with defibrillators and plans are being made to install them on all fire engines.

Recently, funding for a new defibrillator was secured for the centre of Ledbury and volunteers will be trained in its use next month.

Last month the trust agreed to provide Herefordshire’s health overview and scrutiny committee with a review of the county’s ambulance provision following concerns about response times in some areas.