A trial ambulance response model that does not prioritise heart attacks and strokes – unless patients have stopped breathing or their hearts have stopped beating – is to be made permanent, the Welsh Government has announced today.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Secretary, Angela Burns AM, said that the model facilitated a “staggering lack of accountability” given that 96% of all ambulance calls are not measured.
“It is hardly surprising that the Welsh Labour Government are to give permanence to this new model that allows roughly 96% of all ambulance calls to go unmeasured, betraying a staggering lack of accountability”, said Angela Burns AM.
“The worst feature by far of this model is that many cases, including heart attacks and strokes, do not currently qualify for the most urgent response category unless patients have stopped breathing or their hearts have stopped beating.”
She added: “The lives and health of patients are far too high a price to pay for Welsh Government spin. If the new model is to truly work for patients then heart attacks and strokes must be reinstated in the urgent response category to give them the critical care they need and deserve.”
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