THE ambulance service in Worcestershire is coping far better than most to rising demand, an independent report shows.

The West Midlands Ambulance Service recorded better performance than many of the other nine ambulance trusts despite unprecedented pressure according to a report from the National Audit Office report, released today (Thursday).

The report follows positive feedback from the Care Quality Commission published earlier this week which rated the service 'outstanding', the only ambulance trust in the country to be rated so highly.

The audit office report says demand is growing rapidly as trusts are having to respond to increasing numbers of elderly patients with multiple conditions and a rising number of alcohol-related or mental health-driven issues.

Nationally, between 2009/10 and 2015/16 the number of ambulance calls and NHS 111 transfers increased from 7.9 million to 10.7 million.

In the West Midlands calls rose from 867,526 in 2009/10 to just under 1.07 million in 2015/16.

With just over two months to go for this financial year (2016/17) the trust has already taken 923,041 calls.

Despite the pressures the trust has the lowest sickness rate of staff (3.7 per cent) in the country. The highest is the North East (6.7 per cent).

The West Midlands is also one of the quickest to answer 999 calls.

Half of all 999 calls were answered within a second. For the South East Coast ambulance service half were answered within three seconds.

The West Midlands answered 99 per cent of calls within 37 seconds. Only the North West answered quicker (99 per cent of calls answered within 35 seconds).

The South East Coast service answered 99 per cent of calls within 1.23 seconds.

The West Midlands had one of the fastest response times, attending 50 per cent of red calls within 6.01 minutes (target is eight minutes) in 2015/16.

Only Yorkshire was quicker (5.52 minutes). In contrast the East Midlands responded to 50 per cent of emergency calls within 10.38 minutes.

The report also says increased funding has not matched the rise in demand.

Increasingly trusts have had to resolve issues over the phone by providing advice to callers to reduce pressures.

However, the West Midlands resolved only 5.2 per cent of calls over the phone in 2015/16 compared to 15.2 per cent for the East Midlands and 12.8 per cent for London.

The report says there is a consensus among ambulance services that there has been too much focus on response times from commissioners and regulators.

At least 75 per cent of ambulances must arrive at the most serious patients within eight minutes.

Overall, nationally the figure was 72.5 in 2015/16.

The majority of patients coded ‘red 2’ (life-threatening emergencies other than cardiac arrest) do not derive any clinical benefit from the ambulance arriving within eight minutes said the report.

The report says the importance attached to the eight minute target has led to ambulances being dispatched before it has even been established what the problem is.

Sometimes this has resulted in more than one ambulance arriving to tend the same patient.

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) has broadly welcomed the report published today by the National Audit Office which highlights the significant challenges and pressures facing the NHS ambulance service.