South East Coast Ambulance Service

Debate between Baroness Smith of Basildon and Lord O'Shaughnessy

Wednesday 1st November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Basildon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many 999 calls were made to the South East Coast Ambulance Service on 23 September to which no ambulance was sent; and what was the average waiting time for ambulance attendance on that day in that area.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord O'Shaughnessy) (Con)]

My Lords, we do not centrally collect that level of information on ambulance trust activity. However, the latest available data published by NHS England shows that in August 2017 the South East Coast Ambulance Service received 68,855 emergency calls, 52,832 of which received a face-to-face response from the service. The median response time for emergency category A calls—that is, the most serious— during that month was 8.7 minutes.

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

My Lords, that does not really answer my Question. I could have picked any day to ask about but I specifically chose 23 September because on that day Bognor Regis Town Football Club called 999 six times and eventually, after almost three hours, had to take an injured player in considerable pain to hospital by car. That is not an isolated incident. This service is in special measures. A recent report exposed a toxic atmosphere, a culture of bullying and a fear of speaking out. The CQC confirmed that the service is inadequate. The noble Lord quoted figures at me but what is really important is that the response rate for 999 calls is getting worse. Only 50.8% of Red 1 calls and 39% of Red 2 calls—both of them codes for life-threatening situations—attended within the Government’s eight-minute time limit. This is the worst performance ever in the UK since these records have been kept. Will the Government now accept their responsibilities to the public and to National Health Service staff and step in to ensure both proper funding and decent and effective management?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I would have liked to have given data at the level that the noble Baroness asked for but it is not available in a way that has been centrally assured by NHS England. I have a responsibility to provide good-quality, verified data, and I hope she will understand that. However, the bigger point, with which I do not disagree, is that this is the worst-performing ambulance trust in the country, and that is the case whether you look at calls data or performance standards for call-outs. The question, as she rightly points out, is what you do about it. The CQC rated the service as inadequate about a year ago and has just followed up. Unfortunately, it is still inadequate, although the CQC says that some progress has been made. About half a million pounds of special measures funding has gone in. A new CEO has been in place since spring this year, and the local sustainability and transformation partnership has asked the ambulance trust for a business-case bid for transformatory funding. Therefore, I realise that this is playing catch-up, because clearly the level of service is not good enough. I understand that the latest data month on month—that is, September compared with July—shows some improvement since bottoming out in July, but I agree with the noble Baroness that it has a long way to go.