Ambulance Journeys (Hansard, 14 March 1989)

§ Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds regarding the number of ambulance journeys made in each of the last five years in(a) England and Wales and (b) each regional health authority area; in each case, what proportion of these

Ambulance services
Number of patients-journeys by regional health authority (Thousands)
Regional health authority and patient-journeys¹	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987–88
South East Thames Total	1,125.0	1,128.1	1,054.8	1,026.2	841.5
Journeys by private ambulance	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
South West Thames Total	3,649.1	3,624.4	3,528.2	3,136.4	3,063.6
Journeys by private ambulance	113.4	112.7	110.4	121.6	121.0
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	3.1	3.1	3.1	3.9	3.9
Wessex Total	1,359.9	1,408.0	1,454.5	1,412.5	1,106.9
Journeys by private ambulance	0.9	8.7	8.3	8.8	22.4
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.1	0.6	0.6	0.6	2.0
Oxford Total	947.3	914.9	934.9	863.1	826.4
Journeys by private ambulance	4.3	3.4	3.4	3.3	3.6
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
South Western Total	1,917.4	1,967.6	1,960.3	1,795.3	1,443.6
Journeys by private ambulance	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.4
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
West Midlands Total	2,012.9	2,000.3	2,009.3	1,976.1	2,041.7
Journeys by private ambulance	133.5	134.0	102.9	105.2	125.7
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	6.6	6.7	5.1	5.3	6.2
Mersey Total	1,126.8	1,103.8	1,147.5	1,235.8	1,267.4
Journeys by private ambulance	0.0	4.9	0.0	0.0	0.0
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0
England Total	21,271.1	21,281.7	21,364.2	20,685.8	19,669.5
Journeys by private ambulance	351.0	345.1	296.8	307.4	312.4
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	1.7	1.6	1.4	1.5	1.6
Northern Total	1,610.4	1,567.9	1,600.6	1,622.3	1,568.5
Journeys by private ambulance	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.1	0.1
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Yorkshire Total	1,847.5	1,840.5	1,873.6	1,888.4	1,837.2
Journeys by private ambulance	6.0	3.5	0.9	0.0	0.0
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.3	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0
Trent Total	1,802.0	1,838.3	1,877.7	1,930.1	2,061.9
Journeys by private ambulance	2.3	3.3	2.2	2.2	1.9
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
East Anglia Total	953.8	997.4	1,016.7	944.2	877.8
Journeys by private ambulance	3.4	3.0	0.1	0.1	0.0
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.4	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
North West Thames Total	476.4	469.6	464.2	470.0	508.7
Journeys by private ambulance	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
North East Thames Total	548.0	547.7	559.3	575.0	557.8
Journeys by private ambulance	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
North Western Total	1,894.7	1,864.1	1,882.7	1,801.0	1,666.5
Journeys by private ambulance	79.2	76.7	67.6	66.1	32.4
Journeys by private ambulance as a percentage of total	4.2	4.1	3.6	3.7	1.9
¹One patient-journey is defined as one patient carried in one direction. A patient taken to a hospital and later in the same day taken home again counts as two patient-journeys.

156W

journeys were made in a private ambulance contracted to the health authority concerned; and if he will make a statement.