§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is(a) Hampshire Ambulance NHS trust's target time for responding to emergency calls in (i) Ringwood, (ii) Fordingbridge and (iii) the Avon Valley and (b) the actual time taken in the last two years in good road conditions by the emergency ambulance provided at Totton; and if he will make a statement; [28222]
(2) what proportion of emergency calls in the last two years from (a) Ringwood, (b) Fordingbridge and (c) the Avon Valley received a response from the ambulance service provision at Totton within the target time; and if he will make a statement. [28215]
§ Ms BlearsOur target response times require that ambulance services prioritise emergency calls. Immediate life threatening calls are classified as category A, and other emergency calls are classified as category B/C. Ambulance services are required to respond to 75 per cent, of category A calls within eight minutes and 95 per cent, of category B/C calls within 19 minutes.
Information relating to response times in the geographical areas mentioned is not collected separately. The information available about responses to emergency calls is available only at ambulance trust level. Information about the number of emergency calls and the proportion of emergency calls resulting in an ambulance arriving at the scene of the reported incident within the Government's target response time for Hampshire Ambulance national health service trust and all other ambulance trusts in England are contained in the Department of Health Statistical Bulletin "Ambulance Services, England 2000–01". A copy is in the Library and available on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0115.htm.