NHS activity and performance summary: February and March 2020

Emergency calls (ambulance service)

In March 2020, there were 37,568 emergency calls to the ambulance service of these 2,620 were classed as the most serious (red) calls.

The average daily number of emergency calls was 1,252 per day, up from 1,241 in February 2020.

The average daily number of red calls in March was 87, up from 76 in February and up from 67 in February 2020.

An update to call handling practices in May 2019 appears to have resulted in a change to red incident volume. Therefore, it is not possible to compare red incident volumes prior to this time.  

A&E attendances & admissions

Note that March data is likely to be impacted by changes in behaviours and isolation measures due to the growing coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

The average number of A&E attendances per day in March was 2,037. This is:

•  24.4% lower than in February 2020 (657 fewer attendances per day on average)
• 29.3% lower than in March 2019 (843 fewer attendances per day on average)

The total number of A&E attendances in the year to March 2020 was 1,043,500. This is:

• 0.7% lower than the previous year (year ending March 2019)
• 6.3% higher than the corresponding 12 month period 5 years ago (year ending March 2015)

In March, 13,131 patients were admitted to the same or a different hospital following attendance at a major A&E department. This is:

• 2,237 fewer than the previous month (February 2020)
• 4,089 fewer than corresponding month a year ago (March 2019)

Patients starting cancer treatment referred via the urgent suspected cancer route

During the 12 months to February 2020, 8,232 patients newly diagnosed with cancer via the urgent suspected cancer route started treatment. This is:

• an increase of 0.7% (61 patients) over the previous 12 months (year ending February 2019)
• an increase of 24.7% (1,631 patients) from the corresponding period 5 years ago (year ending February 2015)

Patients starting cancer treatment not referred via the urgent suspected cancer route

During the 12 months to February 2020, 9,042 patients newly diagnosed with cancer not via the urgent suspected cancer route started treatment. This is:

• a decrease of 4.0% (378 patients) over the previous 12 months (year ending February 2019)
• a decrease of 5.6% (538 patients) from the corresponding period 5 years ago (year ending February 2015)

Single cancer pathway

Patients are counted on both the urgent and not via the urgent pathways, as well as the single cancer pathway.

Experimental statistics for the single cancer pathway show that in the month of February 2020, 12,452 patients entered the pathway. This is a decrease of 9.5% (1,301 patients) from January 2020.

In February 2020, 1,381 patients newly diagnosed with cancer were treated through the single cancer pathway. This is a decrease of 7.0% (104 patients) from January 2020.

Please see previous months’ reports for the full quality information and notes in relation to this data.

Statistician: Rhys Strafford
Telephone: 0300 025 0058
Email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099

SFR 32/2020