I WRITE in response to Chris Franks’ recent letter criticising the Welsh Government’s decision to introduce changes to the way the Welsh Ambulance Services responds to urgent calls, allowing them to prioritise patients in most need of life-saving care.

The current eight minute response target was introduced 41 years ago. Times have changed. Back then, our ambulances were merely used to transport critically ill patients to hospital.

Today, our ambulances are highly sophisticated mobile hospitals, carrying the most advanced life-saving equipment available anywhere in the world. Our paramedics are highly trained, capable of delivering immediate life-saving interventions at the scene of an emergency.

Currently, if an ambulance arrives at a call within the eight minute target and fails to save a person’s life, it’s deemed a success. If an ambulance arrives one or two minutes later and saves a person’s life, it’s deemed a failure. That cannot be right.

Under the changes being introduced, which have been recommended and designed by clinicians, not by politicians, the eight minute target will remain for those people who need immediate life-saving care. All other patients will receive a tailored response, based on their health needs, rather than a generic response based solely on a 41-year-old time target.

In addition, we will measure how successful the ambulance service is at saving lives. That’s because the care delivered on scene together with taking the patient to the right treatment centre has far more of an impact on their outcome and quality of life than simply arriving at the scene of an accident or incident within eight minutes.

These changes will do exactly what Mr Franks calls for – ensuring ambulances arrive quicker to care for patients, especially in life-threatening cases.

Vaughan Gething AM

Deputy Minister for Health

Welsh Government