Medics took an hour toarrive at the scene of a road traffic collision near Leiston

THE region’s ambulance service failed to meet response targets for its highest priority patients in December, the EADT can reveal today.

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The figures, published by the Department of Health, show that the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) failed to respond to category A patients – those in an immediately life-threatening condition – within both the eight-minute (A8) and 
19-minute (A19) targets.

MP for Harwich and North Essex Bernard Jenkin said the figures were of “great concern” but accepted that parts of the region were hard to reach. He said: “I also expect they are quite patchy – I think First Responder volunteers do a great job.

“There are parts of Tendring that are extremely difficult to reach so I’m also aware that we have a very difficult road network which may impact on response times.

“But we do need to study these figures, improve communications and make sure working processes are not obstructing better performance. For example, I’d be interested to know what staff morale is like at the moment.”

The GMB union, which represents ambulance staff, has also expressed its concern but last night EEAST’s chief executive said progress had been made over the past 12 months.

Hayden Newton said that, while he was disappointed not to have met targets, the December A8 response times were the best since the trust was formed.

He said December had been very busy, with nearly 80,000 calls received, and the trust’s own figures for the first three weeks of January showed a clear improvement.

He said: “Staff, managers and volunteers have carried out an enormous amount of hard work as part of a comprehensive programme to improve our service to our patients.

“We always knew it would of course take time to see the benefits of all the changes over the last few months but I am delighted that we are now seeing the trust turn the corner.”

EEAST crews responded to 73.2% of calls within eight minutes against an A8 target of 75% in December.

The performance for responding to calls within the 19-minute bracket – or A19 – was 93.7% against a target of 95%.

The trust was ranked eighth out of the country’s 12 ambulance services for A8 and 10th for A19.

Last week the GMB accused the trust of misleading the public over its failure to meet response times, saying that incidents were being logged as “target met” when the emergency had not been dealt with.

The trust refuted the claims but last night local GMB organiser Keri Webb said the December figures were not good enough and the union is seeking an urgent meeting with Mr Newton.

Mrs Webb said: “The public are suffering and not receiving the duty of care they should be.

“The staff are second-to-none and are really dedicated to the job they do. What we are asking for is more staff and more vehicles to be put on the road.”