People in some postcodes face unacceptably long 999 waits

DESPERATELY ill or injured patients are facing unacceptably long waits for an ambulance to arrive in parts of Wales, it has been revealed.

New figures released through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show the Welsh Ambulance Service took on average nearly half an hour to reach “red” calls in some postcode areas in 2018-19.

Red calls are reserved for patients who are in cardiac arrest, choking, not breathing, unconscious or about to give birth.

The Welsh Government wants at least 65% of red calls to be reached within eight minutes, a target which has been met consistently in the past three years.

However, the FOI found that 90 out of 203 postcode areas in Wales had an average response time higher than eight minutes in 2018-19, with rural areas particularly affected.

Postcodes with the highest average wait for an ambulance were the rural LL45 (one callout which took 29 minutes) and LL38 (five callouts averaging 23 minutes 46 seconds) in Gwynedd. At the other end of the scale, the area with the fastest response time was the CH1 postcode (three callouts averaging 1m 24s) on the border near Chester.

Lee Brooks, director of operations for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust is commissioned to arrive on scene in eight minutes in 65% of occasions where a 999 call is categorised as immediately life-threatening. In 2018-19 we arrived on scene in excess of 70% of such cases within eight minutes across Wales, with each health board area above the minimum expected standard.”

He added the service saw a 6% increase in red incidents between 201718 and 2018-19 but continued to exceed the commissioned response time standard patients.

“Rurality, distance, demand and factors such as adverse weather do affect our ability to respond quickly in some cases,” he said.

“However, we continue to work to reduce geographical variation in response times and improve the resilience of local communities.” for these