§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of(a) the capacity and (b) the performance of London Ambulance Service answering 999 calls in Barnet at night; and if he will make a statement. [45819]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 25 March 2002]: The borough of Barnet is principally served by three London Ambulance Service (LAS) stations——Friern Barnet, Barnet and Mill Hill. The LAS will always send the nearest available ambulance to every call, so resources based at these stations will sometimes also be supported by vehicles from other areas.
Between the hours of 11 pm and 7 am the LAS always plans to have at least four ambulances covering the area——one each running out of Barnet and Friern Barnet and two from Mill Hill. Three other ambulances are also operated until the early hours, finishing between midnight and 2 am. As well as these and ambulances based in other local boroughs, the service also runs an extra ambulance, deployed by Central Ambulance Control, to provide additional operational cover where it is most needed in any area of the LAS north-west sector.
During the month of February LAS performance in Barnet between 11 pm and 7 am was above the London average for LAS performance.