Wolverhampton ambulances diverting to drive down waiting times elsewhere
Thirty-five ambulances were diverted from Wolverhampton to other boroughs in a single week due to NHS winter pressures on hospitals
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust chief executive Professor David Loughton told the annual general meeting held on Thursday that it had among the lowest A&E ambulance waiting times in the region, resulting in crews being sent to help other communities.
The trust, which includes Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, opened a specialist Ambulance Receiving Centre (ARC) at the city's site in January as part of efforts to get paramedics back on the road sooner to tackle 999 cases.
Professor Loughton said: "The opening of the Ambulance Receiving Centre has made a massive difference. Wolverhampton has always been number one and number two for waiting times when others have had issues, particularly last winter when there were horrendous waiting times.
"Wolverhampton did really well. It's important to get ambulances back on the road. During that time we also got our care co-ordination team back to 24-hour working which made a big difference."
