Questions over Welsh ambulance response targets
The Welsh ambulance service set targets back in 2015 to reach 65 percent of red emergency calls within 8 minutes. That target has never been reached, but executives in the service think that it might be time to scrap the target and instead focus on giving the best possible care when the ambulance does arrive.
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00:00 Senior officials in the Welsh Ambulance Service have questioned their own response time targets,
00:06 saying it hampers the quality of care for patients.
00:09 Back in 2015, the First Minister, then Health Minister, Bawn Geffing, implemented new targets
00:14 that responded to 65% of red emergency calls by 8 minutes.
00:19 In a board meeting held last week, a senior executive, Colin Dennis, said that while they
00:23 are not reaching the 8 minute mark, 65% of calls are reached within 10 minutes.
00:29 He says that the extra 2 minutes may be important, but it may not be, and says that putting all
00:33 the effort into reaching calls within 8 minutes means that patients are not receiving the
00:38 proper care they could be.
00:40 Wales was the first UK nation to move away from time being the sole indicator of care
00:44 provided by ambulance services, with board members saying that there are more qualitative
00:48 indicators of good care, like patient satisfaction.
00:52 They say that the quality of care once ambulance staff arrive is increasingly important to
00:56 how the ambulance service works.
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