Yorkshire Ambulance Service is failing to reach patients with life-threatening emergencies on time.

In 2014/15 the service responded to just over two-thirds (68%) of red calls – the most serious cases – in Kirklees within eight minutes.

Ambulance services are expected to reach three-quarters (75%) of red calls within eight minutes, according to NHS targets.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) figures revealed that the service in Kirklees suffered a sharp decline in performance compared to the previous year, when it reached 77% of red calls within the target time.

The service fared particularly poorly in North Kirklees falling from 79% to 69%, whereas in the Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area it dropped from 75% to 66%.

YAS chiefs said the service’s poorer performance was because of a 12% increase in red call-outs across Yorkshire and the Humber between April 2014 and January 2015 – 29,000 extra red incidents.

The service, however, managed to get an ambulance on the scene with the target 19 minutes in 96% of red cases, above the 95% NHS goal.

Emergency operations director Andrew Simpson told a Kirklees Council health scrutiny panel that YAS was ‘as prepared as (it) could be’.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service crest
Yorkshire Ambulance Service crest

But Mr Simpson said: “Even if we had triple the resources we still wouldn’t be able to cope with some of those high pressure days like New Year’s Eve.

“We just need to make sure we have a safe service.”

Mr Simpson said the service was looking at recruiting new emergency response staff and sending out drivers to deal with non-emergency ‘green’ calls so paramedics could concentrate on red calls.

Mr Simpson also responded to a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last month that rated the service as requiring improvement.

Red call response rates

68%

Number of serious calls attended within eight minutes

75%

Target for serious calls attended within eight minutes

He said: “The inspection was very thorough. Everything they found was appropriate.

“They weren’t trying to be punitive; they were just trying to make sure it was a safe service.”

YAS head of quality, Gareth Flanders, added that YAS’s substandard performance was, in part, because the CQC had ‘raised the bar’.

He said: “YAS is the first service to go through this process. It’s a different process to what they were using before.”