Ambulances ‘fastest in country’ to ‘cat 1’ calls

AMBULANCES in the North East get to the sickest patients quicker than anywhere else in the country - and NHS bosses said this means outcomes for those having a cardiac arrest are correspondingly good.

Data from March shows that, on average, the North East Ambulance Service responded to the most severe “category 1” calls in six minutes and 58 seconds which is the best record in the country and has been maintained month-on-month. At a board meeting on Thursday, NEAS chiefs discussed how this was connected to helping to save the lives of more people facing a cardiac arrest than elsewhere.

Despite meeting some response time targets remaining a challenge - with category 2 calls, classed as “emergencies” and including strokes still taking more than 33 minutes - the trust said the broad picture was far more positive than a year ago.

Chief operating officer Stephen Segasby told the board that the picture when it came to ambulance handover delays outside of the region’s hospitals had been a “game of two halves” in February, the picture was rosier than a year ago. He added: “The highlight for us remains our response to category 1 calls. We are the fastest responding ambulance organisation in the country - and it’s been good to maintain that month on month.”

The figures shared in a report submitted to the board showed that last October the ambulance service attended 181 patients who received CPR and of those 31.5% had seen their heartbeat return by the time they arrived at hospital, above the national average of 29.6%.

Speaking generally, chief executive Helen Ray said: “I want to really recognise the different position we are in now as we exit the year. When we spoke last year at around this time it was against the backdrop of a very challenging winter with some significant risks for this organisation.

“I am not naive enough to say that the risk has gone away - it’s present. We are still facing substantial challenges.

“But the reduction in pressure on our colleagues out there is palpable and that has translated into much better outcomes and scenarios for our patients.”