Traffic, weather and geography are always a challenge and an assessment has now been carried out into how the proposals are expected to impact ambulance services. Across the options 99.7% of people will still be able to access an acute service within 30 minutes by either car or blue light ambulance; similar to the current situation.
Clinical evidence tells us that in an emergency, such as a heart attack, getting patients to the right hospital to receive the right treatment leads to better outcomes. Paramedics routinely diagnose patients in an ambulance to make sure that a patient is taken to the right hospital for the most advanced treatment. This often means that a patient will travel further and may drive past an A&E department to get them to the right place.