Ambulance Services: West Midlands
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for ambulances in the West Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in the West Midlands.
We are determined to turn things around, our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in summer 2025, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.
The NHS Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes and reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →