The average waiting time for an ambulance in Somerset West and Taunton in case of life-threatening injuries and illnesses reached 10 minutes for the reporting year of April 2021 to March 2022.

Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request (FOI) from the Somerset County Gazette show a breakdown of average waiting times and maximum response time between April 2021 to March 2022.

Calls are split and categorised into five different sections.

• Category 1 – life-threatening injuries and illnesses (cardiac arrest, serious allergic reaction);
• Category 2 – Emergency calls (stroke, difficulty breathing, chest pain);
• Category 3 – Urgent calls (late stages of labour, non-severe burns, diabetes);
• Category 4 – Less urgent calls (e.g. diarrhoea and vomiting, urine infections);
• Category 5 - includes all calls that do not fall into the previous four categories (e.g. they could be about information; patients who would benefit from accessing other health services).

For category one calls, the average response time is 10 minutes and 26 seconds - against the seven minutes the service tries to respond within as part of the national standard.
The longest recorded wait for a category one call was one hour, 21 minutes, and 25 seconds - with a road closure or traffic congestion given as the reason behind the figures.

For category two calls, the average response time is 53 minutes and 26 seconds, against the average time of 18 minutes the service tries to respond within as part of the national standard.
The longest wait was 10 hours, 38 minutes, and 57seconds.

For category three calls, the average response time is two hours, 47 minutes, and 18 seconds.
The service says they aim to respond to 90 per cent of these calls within 120 minutes (two hours) as part of the national standard.
The longest wait for this category was 38 hours, 38 minutes, and 5 seconds.

For category four calls, the average response time is two hours, 59 minutes, and 35 seconds against 180 minutes (three hours).
The service says they respond to 90 per cent of these calls within 180 minutes (three hours) as part of the national standard.
The longest wait was 16 hours, 15 minutes, and 35 seconds.



A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “The whole health and social care system has been under sustained pressure for many months now, this means that some patients are having to wait longer for an ambulance than they would expect.

“Our performance has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, partly due to handover delays as emergency departments.

“We are working with our partners to ensure our ambulance clinicians can get back out on the road as quickly as possible, to respond to other 999 calls.”

Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow has told the Somerset County Gazette that she already has brought this issue to the attention of the Health Minister.

She said: “It is concerning that some waiting times for ambulances across Somerset West and Taunton are poor in comparison to the national average and I have already brought this issue to the attention of the Health Minister.

“Clearly ambulance services are under immense pressure across England including in this area.

“This is partly due to the impacts of Covid-19.

“Whilst I am assured that the government is working flat-out to reduce ambulance waiting times which is helped by NHS England having recently allocated an additional £150 million to address these service pressures, there definitely remains more to do.

“This includes not only patients but also those we rely on every day working in our ambulance service.

“I will continue to amplify these concerns in Westminster to ensure this issue is given the attention and urgency it deserves because some of these waiting times are unacceptable.”