Demand for Ambulance services increasing

Figures released by South West Ambulance Service Trust show a steady increase in the amount of call-outs in Wiltshire.

For the four-month period April to July 2017 SWASFT responded to 22,522 incidents in the county. This is an increase of 3.69% compared to the previous year. Broken down to daily figures this shows the Trust is responding to, on average, 185 incidents per day. This compares to 168 incidents per day for the same period in 2014.

In Wiltshire the Trust has failed to meet its performance target of responding to 75% of category one (critical or life threatening) incidents within eight minutes.

The Trust is meeting this time for just 66.43% of category one incidents. However, they point out that 95% of category one patients receive a response in under 19 minutes.

The Trust is introducing a number of operational changes to attempt to improve the situation. It's also looking for more volunteer 'first responders' to help out.

Details of this are in a report to Wiltshire Council's Health Scrutiny committee - Agenda (item 6)