Ambulance sector

Incidents (data for August 2026)

• There were 811,031 ambulance incidents this month, compared with 775,373 in August 2025. This is the busiest August since records began (August 2017). This is shown in Figure 3.
  
  
• There were 76,996 category 1 incidents (life-threatening injuries and illnesses), and 398,069 category 2 incidents (emergency calls). 

Figure 3

Response times and handovers (data for August 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 56 seconds compared with eight minutes exactly in July. This is slower than the seven minutes and 47 seconds in August 2025, and is 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 28 minutes and 52 seconds, compared with 29 minutes and 49 seconds in July. This is slower than the 26 minutes and 59 seconds in August 2025 but is within the 30-minute recovery target.
  
  
• There were 406,646 ambulance handovers where the handover time was known. The mean handover time was 28 minutes and 45 seconds, compared with 25 minutes and 51 seconds in August 2025.