§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will set out in the Official Report the figures for the non-emergency patient journeys run under the auspices of the London ambulance service for each of the first two quarters of 1987 in the format of his reply of 5 March, Official Report, column 679, showing percentage change with the respective quarters in 1984.
§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 10 July 1987] The information requested for the first quarter is given in the table. The information for the second quarter will not be available for several weeks.
On the introduction of new rotas for ambulance persons in March 1986 extra resources were diverted into the emergency side of the service. This has allowed the London ambulance service to deal with the increased number of 999 calls as well as to cut down the average response times to emergencies.
Patient Journeys—1st Quarter 1987 Non-Emergency Service (000's Patient Journeys) Division Walking patients Non-walking patients Total North West 39 38 77 North East 56 53 109 South West 36 43 79 South East 34 52 86 Direct Service Total 165 186 351 Indirect Service — — 86 Total LAS — — 437 Percentage + - on 1st quarter 1984 North West -54.1 -13.6 -40.3 North East -37.8 -18.5 -29.7 South West -52.6 -2.3 -34..2 South East -55.3 -14.8 -37.2 Direct Service Total -49.5 -13.1 -35.1 Indirect Service — — +59-3 Total LAS — — -26.6
Patient Mileage—1st Quarter 1987 Non;Emergency Service (000's Miles) Mileage Percentage + - on 1st quarter 1984 North West 364 -33.8 North East 405 -26.5 South West 308 -32.6 South East 359 -35.2 Direct Service Total 1,436 -;32.0 Indirect Service 574 +66.4 Total LAS 2,010 -18.2