Ambulance response times

Ambulance service response times to 999 calls vary widely across the country.

Many are considerably below the target set by the government that all urgent category A calls should be answered within eight minutes.

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Performance of services with call prioritisation

Percentage of category A calls reached within eight minutes, 1999-2000.

Staffordshire 87.4
Lancashire 68.6
Warwickshire 68.3
West Midlands Metropolitan 64
Royal Berkshire 63.2
Essex 61.8
Cumbria 61.6
The Two Shires 60.7
Mersey Regional 59.9
Lincolnshire 58.3
Dorset 57.7
Sussex 56.5
Tees, East and North Yorkshire 55.5
Shropshire 52.8
Avon 51.3
North East 50.1
Gloucestershire 49.6
Kent 40.3
West Country 39.2
East Midlands 37.8

Performance of services without prioritisation

Percentage of emergency call responses within eight minutes for services without prioritisation, 1999-2000.

Greater Manchester 58.3
West Yorkshire Metropolitan 55.3
Wiltshire 52.4
Surrey 51.4
Hereford and Worcester 51.3
Oxfordshire 47.6
South Yorkshire Metropolitan 45.7
East Anglian 45.2
Bedforshire and Hertfordshire 45.2
Hampshire 44.5
Isle of Wight 43.3
London 35.8