Issue - meetings

To consider a presentation by Sarah Byrom and DaveKitchin of the North West Ambulance Service on:

      Response times in Cheshire East;

      Foundation Trust application;

      Serious and untoward incidents.

A summary document on the Foundation Trust application is attached for reference.

The Committee welcomed Sarah Byrom, Dave Kitchin and Ian Moses from the North West Ambulance Trust (NWAS) who were attending to discuss:

• Response times in Cheshire East;
• The Foundation Trust application;
• Serious and untoward incidents.

In relation to response times, the Committee had received figures showing response times by postcode area from April 2010 – February 2011.  The figures showed that response time targets were not being met in many areas.  Current targets categorised calls as follows:

·        Category A:    Serious and life-threatening

·        Category B:    Serious but not life-threatening

·        Category C:    Not immediately life-threatening or serious

with the Response times standards as follows:

·        75 percent of Category A calls within 8 minutes

·        95 percent of Category A calls in 19 minutes

·        95 percent of Category B calls in 19 minutes

·        95 percent of category C calls in 60 minutes (locally agreed target)

The Committee expressed concern over these figures and sought explanations as to why the response times were so low and what action NWAS was taking to address the issues.

In response, officers of NWAS explained that the low response times correlated to rural areas and to meet the targets would require far more vehicles and paramedics than current resources would allow.  There had been an increase in demand of 8% compared to the previous year but this had not been matched by an 8% increase in resources.

However, there were a number of measures that could be taken to ensure patients were treated as quickly as possible.  NWAS officers explained that specific winter pressures had been addressed through the use of additional resources from St Johns Ambulance, Red Cross and Mountain Rescue teams.  In relation to general performance and responding to calls, there was increasing use of Community First Responders, investigations into devising Co-Responder schemes (with the Fire Service), advice given over the phone and redirecting callers to existing community resources.  The increase in Community First Responder schemes had had a positive impact.

NWAS officers explained that cross border response agreements were in place and ambulances from out of the area would be used if it was more appropriate and timely than using one from NWAS.  A crew would take a patient to the most appropriate hospital for treatment (such as a specialised centre) which could be an out of area location, which would impact on the time taken to get the ambulance back into service.   There were also sometimes issues around turnaround times at hospitals.  It was also relevant to note that even though an ambulance was stationed in an area it may not remain there as it would be out responding to calls and may not return to the station for a long time.

It was noted that Cheshire East was an area with an increasing elderly population, with meant increasing healthcare needs, and there were also increases in chronic illness.  There were also areas of deprivation which had their own health and social care needs and demands. 

All paramedics were currently undergoing diploma  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98