Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the speed of Category 2 ambulance response times on (1) outcomes for stroke survivors and (2) access to thrombectomy treatment.

Category 2 calls are ‘emergency’ calls which include serious time-sensitive incidents such as strokes and heart attacks. NHS England has allocated an additional £150 million for ambulance service pressures in 2022/23, supporting improvements to response times through additional call handler recruitment, retention and other funding requirements.

NHS England is providing targeted support to some hospitals which face the greatest delays in the handover of ambulance patients to identify short and longer-term interventions. NHS England is also implementing pre-hospital video triage in ambulances for patients with suspected stroke in specific areas in England. These patients will receive a video consultation from their home or in an ambulance with a hospital-based stroke clinician, who will advise the paramedics on the best course of action for the patient, such as whether thrombectomy is required or to which hospital they should be conveyed.