[How long does it take for an ambulance to arrive?].

BACKGROUND

There are few Norwegian recommendations for quality and efficacy of ambulance performance. A report commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs concluded that the ambulance service was the weakest link in the chain of survival. The report proposed standards for response intervals in emergencies: 90% of the population in cities and urban areas should be reached by an ambulance within eight minutes. In rural areas, 90% should be reached within 25 minutes.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study describes the ambulance response interval for the 2,589 red code emergencies in the 15 municipalities in Vestfold County in 1998, a county with a population of 208,687, or 97.5 inhabitants per square kilometre, with seven ambulance stations. A retrospective analysis was made of data for the year 1998.

RESULTS

The proposed standard was not reached in any municipality in the county. The city of Tønsberg had the best performance, but even here only 48.9% of the population were reached by ambulance within eight minutes. The worst performance was found in the rural municipality of Tjøme; here, only 63.3% were reached within 25 minutes.

INTERPRETATION

Achieving the standards proposed will require a major restructuring of existing ambulance services.