Average 999 call to West Midlands Ambulance Service picked up in two seconds - data

The trust's Emergency Operations Centres in Brierley Hill and in Stafford have so far this year handled a combined total of over 1,365,117 calls including 173,834 in October - the busiest on record for hospital A&Es in England.

The service said despite operators taking a huge volume of calls, answering time were not faltering due to the extraordinary efforts the staff.

West Midlands Ambulance Service’s integrated emergency and urgent care and performance director Jeremy Brown said: “A call answering time of two seconds, on average, is a remarkable effort and is one that doesn’t go unnoticed.

“This has displayed, once again, the dedication and commitment our team puts into every single shift to deliver outstanding patient care, in what has been a significantly testing time for the service.

“We are at the starting point of a patient’s journey and need to do everything we possibly can to give the best care to our patients in their hour of need.”

The trust said its call assessors, dispatch staff and clinical validation team were working tirelessly to provide round-the-clock, outstanding care to patients across the region. The trust, which serves areas including the Black Country, Staffordshire, Shropshire also takes calls for other ambulance services as necessary to help cope with high demand.

The latest figures were published ahead of the ambulance trust's 'Is the Patient Breathing?' campaign that is due to be held this week to raise awareness of how the Emergency Operations Centres work.

The ambulance success story comes as NHS figures show A&Es serving Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell and parts of Staffordshire last month missed waiting time targets that require patients to be seen within four hours of arrival. The NHS is aiming for 95 per cent as standard, but the Government has set a two-year plan to stabilise services with a recovery target of 76 per cent of patients being seen on time by March.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which includes New Cross Hospital, surpassed the four-hour recovery target at 77 per cent, but still missed the standard.

At Russells Hall Hospital A&E in Dudley 2,337 patients waited longer than four hours including 173 who waited longer than 12 hours.

At Walsall Manor Hospital 1,353 patients waited longer than four hours, including 170 who waited longer than 12 hours.

At Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust including Sandwell General 2,280 patients waited longer than four hours, including 480 who waited longer than 12 hours.

At the University Hospitals of North Midlands 1,983 patients waited longer including 1,057 who waited longer than more than 12 hours.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “Today’s figures are a stark reminder of the ongoing pressures the NHS is facing, particularly in emergency care with significant demand for ambulances and A&E, as we head into what we are expecting to be another challenging winter in the health service.”