Ambulance sector

Incidents (data from April 2026)

• There were 789,214 ambulance incidents this month. This is the highest figure for April since records began (August 2017). This is shown in Figure 3.
  
  
• There were 74,428 category 1 incidents (life-threatening injuries and illnesses) and 389,865 category 2 incidents (emergency calls).

Figure 3

Response times and handovers (data for April 2026)

The national ambulance response time targets are seven minutes for category 1 incidents and 18 minutes for category 2 incidents. As part of the plan to recover urgent and emergency care, NHS England adjusted the category 2 target to 30 minutes, on a temporary basis. 

• The average response time across England for category 1 incidents was seven minutes and 40 seconds compared with seven minutes and 46 seconds for March. This is faster than the seven minutes and 43 seconds in April 2025, but is still missing the national standard of seven minutes. The last time the standard was met was more than five years ago in March 2021.
  
  
• For category 2 incidents, the average response time was 24 minutes and 27 seconds, compared with 26 minutes and 18 seconds in March. This is faster than the 27 minutes and 32 seconds in April 2025 and is within the 30-minute recovery target. This is the fastest that category 2 response times have been in five years. 
  
  
• There were 406,747 ambulance handovers where the handover time was known. The mean handover time was 26 minutes and two seconds, compared with 32 minutes and 22 seconds in April 2025.