PEOPLE in some parts of Cornwall have been revealed to have to wait on average three times longer than others for an emergency ambulance.

Figures released by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) show the postcode lottery when dialling 999 for an ambulance.

The information was revealed in a report to Cornwall Council’s health and adult social care overview and scrutiny committee after councillors requested more details about ambulance response times due to a number of concerns being raised about delays.

Details were provided for the response times for ambulances responding to category one calls – which are for “immediate response to a life-threatening condition, such as cardiac or respiratory arrest”.

The target response time for these calls is an average of seven minutes but the new figures show that the averages in Cornwall are variable.

The quickest response time in Cornwall between June 2018 and May 2019 was in the PL31 Bodmin area where there were 209 category one incidents with an average response time of 5 minutes and 15 seconds.

The four other quickest areas were:

TR1 Truro where 303 calls had a 5.18min response time

PL25 St Austell 353 calls, 5.51min

TR15 Redruth 228 calls, 5.57min

PL18 Gunnislake 29 calls, 6.35min

At the other end of the scale the slowest average response time was in TR19 Land’s End with 44 incidents and a time of 15.52mins – more than three times slower than in the quickest area in Bodmin.

The other four areas with the slowest times were:

PL13 Looe/Polperro, 88 calls with average time of 15.35min

PL34 Tintagel, 19 calls, 14.04min

PL28 St Merryn, 35 calls, 13.57min

PL32 Camelford, 43 calls, 13.27min

At the meeting councillors heard that SWASFT conveys 51 per cent of patients to an emergency department and that the ambulance service only admits around 37 per cent of the incidents received to Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske.

A report to councillors stated: “A key difference being that for the biggest part of Cornwall there is only one acute hospital unlike Bristol where there are three; resulting in increased travelling time, longer incident cycle durations and less available resources. Factor in a finite number of resources based on commissioning; without any hospital handover delays, which can significantly reduce ambulance availability further, which generally occur through the period of higher demand in the latter part of the day.”

It adds: “SWASFT’s aim is to provide an equitable service to all patients but with this finite resource there are pockets of the community where it is difficult fo achieve national response targets through distance, road infrastructure and activity. This can be further compounded by the quality of the caller’s knowledge of their own location, whether that is through tourism or an underlying condition.”

Councillors heard that a review of rotas in Cornwall in 2017 resulted in work to maximise performance and patient care by matching existing resourcing to demand, this was said to have addressed the imbalance.

The committee was also reminded that Cornwall has received new ambulances and was told that SWASFT continually reviews resource levels.

SWASFT also revealed that it had received additional funding from NHS Kernow which will increase the number of staff in Cornwall which will add just short of an extra 500 hours of ambulance cover in Cornwall per week.

The report added: “Utilising the demand data we will be building our resourcing over the next two years, although we are looking to achieve maximum gain as quickly as possible; to reduce delays in patients receiving care, the demands on the staff during shifts both locally and in the clinical hub and improve staff work-life balance.”

It concludes: “Through additional funding and evidence-based redesign of its resourcing SWASFT is better placed to provide an even better service in the future.”

Full list of average response times to category one calls in Cornwall by postcode from quickest to slowest (June 2018 to May 2019)

Postcode    Number of Cat 1 incidents   Mean response time

PL31                209                                                      5.15

TR1                  303                                                       5.18

PL25               353                                                       5.51

TR15                228                                                       5.57

PL18                 29                                                         6.35

TR7                  291                                                        7.13

TR10                101                                                        7.31

PL14                203                                                       7.38

PL12                 181                                                        7.41

TR3                    91                                                         7.43

TR17                  19                                                          8.04

TR5                    28                                                         8.24

TR18                 195                                                       8.25

TR11                 297                                                        8.25

TR16                 162                                                        8.28

TR14                 326                                                       8.28

TR4                   92                                                          9.17

TR27                 128                                                       9.41

TR21                 19                                                           9.44

PL11                  82                                                          10.04

PL17                 57                                                           10.09

PL26                249                                                        10.13

TR13                159                                                         10.20

PL24                 92                                                          10.23

TR20                 62                                                          10.37

TR26                 114                                                         10.52

EX23                 136                                                        11.19

PL10                 19                                                            11.20

PL27                 88                                                           11.21

TR2                   59                                                            11.24

PL15               180                                                            11.29

PL22                35                                                             11.29

TR8                   95                                                            11.38

TR9                  59                                                            12.06

PL30                83                                                            12.09

TR6                   40                                                            12.28

PL23                 27                                                             12.54

TR12                  64                                                            13.10

PL32                 43                                                             13.27

PL28                35                                                              13.57

PL34                19                                                              14.04

PL13                 88                                                             15.35

TR19                 44                                                            15.52