Are Response Times Really Improving?

In recent years the East of England Ambulance Service has been under much scrutiny for their response times to an emergency 999 call, but has there been any reaction or improvement of their service?

Response times have been under the watchful eyes of the Press for some time, as they were identified as a concern back in 2012 where it was highlighted that the Service was not reaching stroke sufferers quick enough. With the East of England Ambulance Service missing their targets of taking stroke suffering patients to a specialist within an hour by over 20%, patients were more at risk of long lasting effects from the stroke. Neil Chapman from The Stroke Association said although the Service is ‘not meeting their targets, we are seeing they are putting in measures to improve’. But has this actually been implemented?

Two years later and it seems patients are yet to see results. Back in January of this year Anthony Marsh, Chief Executive of the East of England Ambulance Service, promised that response times would improve but it would be a lengthy process. By ordering over 200 more emergency response vehicles and recruiting several hundred more student paramedics to fill vacancies at the Service, he hoped to improve the response time once they had been fully trained in two years’ time.

Meanwhile, it seems likely that patients will continue to suffer, with response target times frequently being missed. According to a study released by the Health and Care Information Centre, the East of England Ambulance Service only reach 73.6% of the most critical patients within 8 minutes, falling below the national average of 75.6%.

Whilst it is clear the East of England Ambulance Service have a plan in place to meet the national expected response times, it seems patients in the East of England will have to wait some time before a real improvement can be seen in this vital service.

I was disappointed to read about the company that was allegedly bribing an employee of a former insurance company to supply them with the details of victims who had been involved in motor accidents. Three people were arrested over allegations that personal details of customers who had insurance with LV were sold for nearly £17,000.00.

This is not the first time this problem has been encountered. Two employees of Aviva are going to Court over the alleged sale of accident victims’ details to a ‘cash for crash’ firm.

There is a lot of stigma attached to victims who want to bring a claim for personal injuries following a car accident. If somebody is injured in an accident, they have a choice as to whether they want to pursue a personal injury claim. Alleged behaviour involving employees of insurance companies who sell these victims’ personal details is unhelpful to the personal injury car accident culture as it invites victims to bring a claim.

If a victim is injured and they want to pursue a claim they should be entitled to do so. What is not acceptable is effectively cold calling victims to entice them to bring a claim. As Solicitors, we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It is a shame there are not more regulations for the so called ‘cash for crash’ firms.