DAMNING new data has revealed that people in Oxfordshire are waiting too long for an ambulance.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which covers Oxfordshire as well as most of the south region, dealt with 3,501 ‘life-threatening’ incidents in May this year.

‘Life-threatening’ is the most serious condition that a patient could be in, and the status is determined by the 999-call handler.

The latest NHS rules means that ambulances need to reach these patients in just seven minutes.

Fresh data has shown that SCAS ambulances reached people with these kind of conditions in an average time of 8.34 minutes – 1minute 34 seconds on average slower than expected.

The service also dealt with 25,376 ‘emergencies’. Ambulances reached these people in 34.1minutes on average.

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The figures show that response times worsened during the pandemic. Since June last year, the average ‘life-threatening injury’ response time has exceeded the 7-minute response target, peaking in March 2022 at 10 minutes 28 seconds.

On Monday (July 11), SCAS declared a critical incident due to current pressures on their services.

Mark Ainsworth, director of operations at SCAS, said demand for their emergency service has increased steadily over the last five years and is now at the highest levels ever seen.

He said: “All ambulance services are under significant and sustained pressure and SCAS is no different.

“So we, like most ambulance trusts, are having to respond to a far greater number of seriously ill patients (Category 1 and 2) which is probably being driven by an increasing elderly population, an increasing percentage of people with complex or multiple health conditions and of course over the last two years the impact of Covid.

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“We continue also to deal with a steady volume of urgent (Category 3) calls which is more likely driven by an increase in use of NHS 111 and the difficulties patients have accessing their GP or other primary/community health services which then leads to a greater need for emergency treatment because earlier interventions have not been taken.

“This comes at a time of increasing demand elsewhere on health services, particularly hospitals, which has led to increasing challenges for ambulance services to handover patients in a timely manner which then impacts our ability to respond and meet our response time targets.

“Without the skills and experience of our clinicians on the road and in our control rooms, the situation would be significantly worse, especially for our hospital partners.

“Over half of the patients we send an ambulance response to are not taken to a hospital or other clinical setting.

“Our highly trained clinicians are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and have a greater ability to treat people at home than ever before.”

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This story was written by Anna Colivicchi, she joined the team this year and covers health stories for the Oxfordshire papers. 

Get in touch with her by emailing: Anna.colivicchi@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @AnnaColivicchi