4. Will the First Minister make a statement on ambulance response times across Wales? OAQ51837

We expect the Welsh ambulance service to work with partners to deliver sufficient emergency ambulance cover to ensure all patients who require an emergency response receive that in a time commensurate to their clinical need.

Well, I thank the First Minister for that answer, but does he feel that it is unacceptable that one of my elderly constituents, after suffering a fall, had to wait over 10 hours for an ambulance to arrive? This was before the recent inclement weather. During this time, she was advised by response staff not to move in case she exacerbated her injuries. Dutifully, she lay on the bathroom floor until the ambulance arrived. I would like to state here that the care she received from the ambulance crew once they attended was excellent in all respects. Nevertheless, does the First Minister not agree with me that it is totally unacceptable that, in twenty-first century Wales, a patient has to wait 10 hours for an ambulance response?

It's very difficult to offer an answer to the scenario that the Member has posed because I'm not familiar with all the facts. However, I'd be more than happy to investigate this for him, if you were to write to me with further details, to see what happened in this—. I've got no reason to doubt what he's saying, of course, but in order for me to give him a full answer and his constituent a full answer, if he were to write to me, I will provide that answer.

A specific question on waiting times during the bad weather that we've just experienced—we are aware of the particular pressures put on the ambulance service because of the snow. I've heard one particularly concerning report about the impact of waiting a very long time on a specific patient. Heavy snow isn't something that happens on a weekly basis, but neither is it something that's entirely exceptional. Can the First Minister refer us to information that will provide us with assurances that the ambulance service does plan as much as possible in order to cope when we do experience circumstances of extreme weather as we had last week?

I will give you some of the background and then go on to say what actually happened during the bad weather. First, there was an increase in the number of calls, as Members would expect. There were 103 red alert calls on the Sunday, which was 20 per cent higher than the previous week, so there was an increase in calls, as people would expect. What, then, did the ambulance service do? They worked very closely with the health boards and their emergency service partners, through the gold command, because that is how it is resolved and co-ordinated, in order to ensure that every resource is used to support them. What does that mean practically? Well, a 4x4 vehicle and also, of course, the air ambulance helicopter to ensure that they could reach people who needed emergency treatment during the last week.

So, what happens is that the response is co-ordinated through gold command to ensure that all the emergency services work together to help each other and, of course, to help the public.

Thank you. Sorry, I was just listening to the end of the translation, which was slightly behind you. Question 5, Mike Hedges.