YAS Information sullied after much Pressure


From Mick Pilling Chairman S.B.H.C.A.G.  22nd January 2009

The campaigning never stops, we must keep up the pressure to make sure Bridlington people & patients gets the best from the NHS, moving the services; i.e. Cardiac Monitoring Unit (CMU) Maternity Unit & Emergency Surgical services and not forgetting Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) only open 12hrs 8am to 8pm from Bridlington Hospital was the last straw, now patients must make the gruelling journey 22 miles to Scarborough A&E....across one of the worst country coastal roads in Britain (Fact).

The Ambulance and its crew have our lives in there hands, every second counts as we go to Scarborough so it is only right we make sure that the YAS can meet the Government criteria.  Anyone patient having a Cardiac Arrest needs to know they have a chance. 

The Information I requested as now been supplied after much pressure from myself; here is the Ambulance info:

Please view this Information........contact me if required......Kindest regards Mick Pilling

22 January 2009

Dear Mr Pilling

 

 

I am sorry for the delay in providing you with the information you requested.

Please find attached with this letter the responses to your three remaining questions.

Question 5 – Response Times for Bridlington

We have provided these in the attached Excel document. Please note that the times are for the whole East Riding of Yorkshire PCT as this is the finest level of detail on which we report.

Question 7 – Have there been any deaths in the rear of ambulances in the last three months?

If a patient in the care of Yorkshire Ambulance Service goes into cardiac arrest in an ambulance en-route to hospital it is the crew's normal protocol to carry out Advanced Life Support and convey to the nearest receiving hospital that has an Accident & Emergency Department. 

This means that occurrence and diagnosis of death would not be in the back of an ambulance, and any pronouncement of death would normally be made by the medical staff of the receiving hospital.

Question 9 – What is the estimated time for an ambulance travel from Bridlington to Scarborough in an Emergency?

To answer your question we have provided you with average journey times for calls to which we responded between October and December 2008. This information is in the attached Excel document – please refer to both tabs: summary and definitions.

With kind regards

Michelle Power

Information Governance Coordinator

Average Travel Times from YO15 and YO16 Postcodes to Scarborough Hospital  
             
Average Travel Times based on Journeys between 1st October 2008 and 31st December 2008  
             
    Average Times    
  Government Standard at Time of Call YO15 YO16 Grand Total    
  Red 00:32:49 00:33:19 00:33:07    
  Amber 00:35:00 00:34:10 00:34:29    
  Green 00:35:14 00:36:44 00:36:08    
             
Please note: This would be dependent on the condition of the patient, traffic, time  
of day, time of year and weather conditions.  
             
             
East Riding of Yorkshire PCT Performance  
             
    October  
    Cat A 8 Mins Cat A 19 Mins Cat B 19 Mins Notes  
  2008 74.1% 94.5% 92.1% Call Connect  
  2008 80.7% 95.2% 94.6% Pre Call Connect  
  2007 63.5% 90.2% 87.9% Pre-Call Connect  
             
    November  
    Cat A 8 Mins Cat A 19 Mins Cat B 19 Mins Notes  
  2008 75.9% 94.9% 90.8% Call Connect  
  2008 81.5% 95.5% 93.0% Pre Call Connect  
  2007 62.3% 92.4% 88.9% Pre-Call Connect  
             
    December  
    Cat A 8 Mins Cat A 19 Mins Cat B 19 Mins Notes  
  2008 69.8% 92.2% 90.8% Call Connect  
  2008 75.8% 93.5% 92.7% Pre Call Connect  
  2007 57.9% 90.3% 85.8% Pre-Call Connect  
             

 

Report Definition:

 

 

Government Standard Time of call - This the grade that call was given at the time of the call

 

 

Red

This is a category A call presenting conditions, which may be immediately life threatening and should receive an emergency response within 8 minutes irrespective of location in 75% of cases.

 

 

Amber

This a category B call presenting conditions, which though serious are not immediately life threatening and must receive a response within 19 minutes in 95% of cases.

 

 

Green

This is a Category C call presenting conditions which are not immediately serious or life threatening. For these calls the response time standards are not set nationally but are locally determined

 

 

Call Connect

 

From 1 April 2008, ambulance services nationwide, including Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS), applied a new way of measuring emergency ambulance response times.

The new ‘Call Connect' standard means the clock starts when the 999 emergency call is connected to the ambulance Communications Centre and not after three pieces of key information have been obtained by the Communications Centre (location, telephone number and chief complaint), which is currently the case.

The key response target of reaching 75% of Category A life-threatening calls within eight minutes remains the same, as does the key response target of reaching 95% of Category B patients (serious, but not life-threatening) within 19 minutes. These are nationally set targets.

Ambulance trusts are now assessed against the new ‘Call Connect' standard.

 


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