What is the Cabinet Secretary doing to address the inequality in red call response times within 8 minutes between Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board which currently stands at 41 per cent, and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board which stands at 52 per cent?
Ambulance responsiveness is not where I, the NHS nor the public want it to be.
Many factors are contributing to make it difficult to achieve the ambulance response time target, including increasing demand, ambulance handover delays at hospitals, which reduce available capacity, discharge delays within the healthcare system and higher-than-normal levels of staff sickness absence.
I am concerned about the levels of handover delays reported at emergency departments in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB area. I have been clear with the health board about the need to release ambulance crews from emergency departments quickly to support faster response times to those in most need.
The health board has a Six Goals for Urgent and Emergency Care programme plan, supported by £2.7m in additional Welsh Government funding. Successful delivery of this plan should support improvements across a range of measures, including a reduction of ambulance handover delays, contributing to improved ambulance responsiveness.
We are monitoring delivery of health board plans and expect to see improvements in reducing ambulance handover delays.