Average 999 call to West Midlands Ambulance Service picked up in two seconds - data

The trust's Emergency Operations Centres in Brierley Hill and in Stafford have so far this year handled a combined total of over 1,365,117 calls including 173,834 in October - the busiest on record for hospital A&Es in England.

The service said despite operators taking a huge volume of calls, answering time were not faltering due to the extraordinary efforts the staff.

West Midlands Ambulance Service’s integrated emergency and urgent care and performance director Jeremy Brown said: “A call answering time of two seconds, on average, is a remarkable effort and is one that doesn’t go unnoticed.

“This has displayed, once again, the dedication and commitment our team puts into every single shift to deliver outstanding patient care, in what has been a significantly testing time for the service.

“We are at the starting point of a patient’s journey and need to do everything we possibly can to give the best care to our patients in their hour of need.”

The trust said its call assessors, dispatch staff and clinical validation team were working tirelessly to provide round-the-clock, outstanding care to patients across the region. The trust, which serves areas including the Black Country, Staffordshire, Shropshire also takes calls for other ambulance services as necessary to help cope with high demand.

The latest figures were published ahead of the ambulance trust's 'Is the Patient Breathing?' campaign that is due to be held this week to raise awareness of how the Emergency Operations Centres work.