Figures seen by the Advertiser show that for three consecutive months from February to May, ambulance response times for category one calls have all been over 24 minutes, with April's figures being 25 minutes 25 seconds. A category one incident is classed as being "an immediate response to a life threatening condition", such as cardiac or respiratory arrest. The target for all ambulance trusts is to respond to such an incident is seven minutes, well below the times that West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) vehicles have arrived in Ludlow and the surrounding areas. Councillor Darren Childs, who represents Gallows Bank Ward, said: "Despite some improvements, unofrtunately WMAS are still not hitting the target of response times within seven minutes for category one emergences, it's currently still taking them almost 30 minutes. A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “There has been a significant improvement in hospital handover delays since the turn of the year which has resulted in much better ambulance response times.

Source: The Times July 05, 2023 14:01 UTC