The performance target for NHS ambulance services is set at 75% of life-threatening calls to be responded to within eight minutes.
Although figures are not entirely comparable with UK ones, Jersey Ambulances are doing rather well with an average response time of six minutes and 54 seconds for Category A (immediately life-threatening). For category B calls (serious but not immediately life-threatening) the average is seven minutes and 42 seconds. For category C (not serious or life-threatening), it is 10 minutes and 44 seconds.
On the other hand, the longest wait for an ambulance to an emergency call in 2016 was 58 minutes. At the time, a healthcare professional was with the patient and was advised of the delay, which was due to the crew being diverted to a cardiac arrest call.
The figures, published as part of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, were based on the 41 calls the first responders received in 2016. It is important to note that there is no set target for average response times for ambulances.
As far as the States of Jersey Police are concerned, their goal is to reach 90% of ‘grade one’ calls in the town area within 10 minutes and within 20 minutes at any other island location. Between September 2016 and February this year, they were well within that target with an average response time of four minutes and 18 seconds on 251 calls.
