§ 40. Mr. HardyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of the number of people who have died where there was delay in response to an emergency call by the ambulance service; and if there has been any monitoring of the recent position in regard to response times.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeNo reasonable estimate can be made on the effect that industrial action is having on patient care, but plainly the unions are organising activities which are designed to reduce and delay the service to patients. I have no evidence yet that the unions' industrial action has definitely caused the death of anyone.
Ambulance services continue to monitor their own response times, even where the service is disrupted by industrial action, though the data may then be less reliable.