Time Travelling Ambulances

Ambulance call figures questioned

There are wide variations in the way ambulance trusts in England calculate their response times to 999 calls, evidence seen by the BBC suggests.

Many trusts do not start timing responses until minutes after receiving a call, it has emerged.

Latest figures show that most ambulance trusts in England claim to have hit a government target on response time.

But they do not show that trusts count response time from different starting points, the BBC's Andrew Hosken said.

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But it has emerged that many trusts do not start the clock until a minute-and-a-half to two minutes after receiving a call, the BBC investigation found.

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The BBC investigation showed some ambulance trusts were achieving extraordinary results by reaching calls within one second.

And an NHS source said the London Ambulance Service, which claimed to have met the government target last year, had received a report which showed the London control room delayed starting the clock by an average of four-and-a-half minutes.

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The investigation also raised concerns about how trusts are categorising life-threatening calls.

Figures from 2005 showed that only 8% of calls in Berkshire were in the most serious group - compared to a national average of 30% and 46% in Staffordshire. The trust said it stood by its figures.

A sub one second response time! What a service!

If the Ambulance Service are going to skew the figures this much, perhaps they should push the boat out and start the stopwatch when they get back from a call. If nothing else, New Labour can use such a report to prove once and for all that time travel is possible. Imagine the kudos for Bliar.

The rest of the NHS should take note. Using this approach, waiting times for operations could be slashed to minus three weeks. Your GP could treat you two days before you even realise you are ill.

Meanwhile I'm off to buy a new house in Berkshire, before word leaks out that you are 5 to 6 times less likely to have a life-threatening condition requiring an ambulance. It must be something in the water.

Filed under: Politics, New Labour Spin