§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the standard percentage of emergency calls answered within eight minutes by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service; and what is the comparable figure for England. [HL288]
§ The Lord Privy Seal(Lord Williams of Mostyn)The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service has a target to respond to 50 per cent of all emergency calls within eight minutes. In the year ended 31 March 2002, it achieved this response time for 59 per cent of all emergency calls in the Eastern Board area, 47 per cent Northern, 43 per cent Southern and 57 per cent Western.
Different targets apply in England, where ambulance services are required to respond to 75 per cent of all Category A (Life Threatening) calls within eight minutes. In 2001–02, 14 of the 32 ambulance services in England achieved this target.