To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average (a) response time for emergency ambulance call-outs and (b) time before admission to hospital following emergency call out was in West Sussex primary care trust in each of the last five years for which figures are available. (157440)

Information on average response time and time before admission to hospital is not available. The closest equivalent measures of average response time are percentage of response times within eight minutes and 19 minutes.

Information on percentage of response times within eight minutes and within 19 minutes is available in tables 6 and 7 of the “Ambulance Services for England 2006-07” report.

This information is available for 2002-03 to 2006-07 for each Ambulance Service Provider in England. Data for 2006-07 are not directly comparable to data for earlier years due to the re-organisation of Ambulance Service Providers in 2006.

Data for West Sussex are not available; however, Sussex on a whole is shown. Complete Sussex data are available until 2005-06 and only for quarter one in 2006-07 due to the re-organisation.

The “Ambulance Services for England 2006-07” report is available in the Library and is also available at:

www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/audits-and-performance/ambulance/ambulance-services-england-2006-07

Data are not available on time before admission to hospital as timing stops when an emergency vehicle arrives at the scene of the incident.