New data show that the South Western Ambulance Service had a slower response time between June and July.

According to data published by NHS England, the South West Ambulance service remains one of the slowest in the country.

Although they were quicker at responding to category 1 or emergency calls, they were generally slower when it came to category 2, 3 and 4 calls.

Earlier in July, the ambulance service in the South West went on a Black alert after it was unable to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic before the extreme heatwaves, which cause people lots of health issues.

In May this year, the median response time for category 1 calls, which are categorised as responses to a life-threatening situation, were responded to in 10:44 minutes, with 99% of these calls being responded to in 19:43 minutes.

In July, these numbers had increased to a median response time of 11:48 minutes, with 99% of category 1 calls being responded to within 21:18 minutes.

The nationwide standard for ambulance services is to respond to category 1 calls within 7 minutes, with 90% being of category 1 calls being responded to within 15 minutes. 

The only ambulance service with a higher median response time was the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service, with a median response time of 12:09 minutes. But they had a faster 

But looking at the 99th percentile numbers of how fast category 1 calls were responded to, the South West Ambulance Service was the slowest. The second slowest ambulance service in the 99th percentile was the East of England Ambulance Service, with an average time of 20:40 minutes.

But cases categorised as category 3 or 4 might have to wait up to 9 hours for an ambulance to arrive.

Surprisingly, this is not the slowest time for ambulance services, as some people in the country might have to wait up to 12 hours for non-emergent cases.

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.

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

“We are working with our partners in the NHS and across social care to ensure our ambulance clinicians can get back out on the road as quickly as possible, to respond to other 999 calls and improve the service that patients receive.”

In July, the SWASFT urged residents not to call them unless an absolute emergency due to the current strain on the service while they try to regain control.