FOI 26-029 Response Times
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-029 Response Times
- Request Date
- 14 Jan 2026
- Response Date
- 23 Jan 2026
- Information Requested
What are the longest waiting times for an ambulance to arrive for your Ambulance Trust patients for the past three calendar years? (Broken down by years 2023, 2024, 2025)
1a) If possible, please break down by age of patient.
1b) If possible, please break down by severity of harm.
2. What is the average waiting time for an ambulance to arrive for your Ambulance Trust patients for the past three calendar years? (Broken down by years 2023, 2024, 2025)
2a) If possible, please break down by age of patient.
2b) If possible, please break down by severity of harm
- Response
Please see attached excel spreadsheet detailing the response times for each of the years requested. Each year has the breakdown by patient name and incident acuity.
The severity of harm (acuity) has been given as how the call was categorised; call categories are defined in the following way:
Purple: Our most critically ill patients. This is where a patient is identified as having a 10% or more chance of having a cardiac arrest. The actual cardiac arrest rate across this category is approximately 53%.
Red: Our next most serious category where a patient is identified as having a likelihood of cardiac arrest between 1% and 9.9%, or having a need for resuscitation interventions such as airway management above 2%. Currently the cardiac arrest rate in this category is approximately 1.5%.
Amber: where a patient is likely to need diagnosis and transport to hospital or specialist care. The cardiac arrest rates for all of these codes is less than 0.5%.
Yellow: a patient who has a need for care but has a very low likelihood of requiring life-saving interventions. For example, patients who have tripped or fallen but not sustained any serious injury
Important information to consider when interpreting this data
Please note: the response times show total time and do not factor in possible upgrading or downgrading that may occur depending on the patient condition. For example, a call may start out as a yellow call, subsequently be upgraded to a purple call some time later, but only the total time from the first call received is shown. The starting point is always set for the colour category first determined, not the final colour category assigned. Where delays occur, clinical advisors maintain contact with the patient, checking their condition on an ongoing basis, and upgrading when appropriate.
- Response Documents
