TYNEDALE’S quick-thinking community paramedics are the speediest in the country, according to new response time data.
Figures gathered in a Freedom of Information request by The Times newspaper have shown that postcodes in the Haltwhistle area had the fastest response time to 999 emergencies.
Between 2012 and 2015, ambulances recorded a response time of four minutes and 29 seconds in 75 per cent of incidents in the NE49 area.
A separate analysis of the data by the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), has found that the postcodes covering community paramedics in the Bellingham area averaged an ambulance response in nine minutes 50 seconds in 75 per cent of incidents .
Paul Liversidge, chief operating officer for NEAS, said: “The changes we made to our rural ambulance cover in Northumberland almost 10 years ago has clearly had a beneficial impact on our ability to respond to emergencies.”
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