Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards has criticised changes to the Welsh Ambulance reponse time system.

As of October 1, requests for an ambulance will be categorised by red, amber and green, with red calls considered life threatening and responded to as quickly as possible. The Welsh Government will retain its target of meeting 65% of these calls within eight minutes.

But Mr Edwards points out that in Scotland and England, however, their target is to reach 75% of red calls within that time.

“Any observer would reasonably expect a government – irrespective of political hue – to want to raise standards and targets.,” said Mr Edwards MP

“Ambulance response times have been more commonly measured on the ability to respond to life-threatening cases within 8 minutes. This will continue, but will now operate with red, amber and green categories, with 65% of red, life-threatening calls still having a response target of 8 minutes.

“What isn’t promoted by the Labour government is that their 65% target is lower than the 75% target which exists in both Scotland and England. Lack of ambition is one thing, but perhaps more concerning is that amber and green calls will have no time-based target in the future.

“I have some sympathy with the argument that saving a life after eight minutes is better than losing a life but arriving within five minutes. The eight minute response target is years old and the needs of a patient are much more important than hitting a target. But the lack of time-based targets for other calls could have serious consequences.

“In theory, the new system introduced by the Labour government could mean a pensioner falling and breaking their hip but unless there is a risk of heart attack or stroke then an ambulance has no time target to arrive. This could lead to a whole host of problems. In the North-East of England even green category calls are given target response times."

Deputy Health minister Vaughan Gething says the new system patients’ health needs first, helping ensure all sick and injured patients receive the right care, at the right time and in the right place.

In July, the Welsh Government announced that the Welsh Ambulance Service will pilot a new clinical response model, which includes new clinical indicators, for 12 months, starting in October.

The changes are being made in response to evidence from leading ambulance clinicians and a clinical review of the way the timeliness and quality of the emergency ambulance service in Wales is measured. This will place the focus on clinical care rather than a single blunt eight-minute response time target, which is more than 40 years old.

The Deputy Minister said the changes will help demonstrate to the people of Wales the level of care they can expect to receive when they have an emergency medical problem and, for the first time, they will be in a position to hold the ambulance service to account for the care it provides and not the speed at which ambulance crews can drive to a scene.

Mr Gething said:“By piloting this new way of working we will be putting people’s clinical needs and their care first. It will help us deliver a high-performing and quality ambulance service for the people of Wales.

“The new clinical response model will prioritise the most critically-ill patients – those who will die unless they receive a clinical intervention in minutes. They will receive the fastest response possible from all available resources in order to save their lives.

“These 999 calls, where someone’s life is at risk, will be known as red and they will continue to be measured against the current eight-minute target.

“We will measure more than we ever have before and we will publish these measures in an easily understandable, accessible and transparent way on a regular basis.”

The announcement of the pilot has been widely supported by frontline clinicians, senior emergency care doctors, professional colleges, community health councils, health charities and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.

NHS Wales is also undertaking pioneering work to become the first national service in the UK to routinely collect information about patients which will give a complete picture of what happened to the patient between the initial call for help to WAST, through their time in the Emergency Department and hospital and subsequently their return home. The Welsh Ambulance Service has started to use digipens to support this collection following a £1.1m investment by the Welsh Government.