Ambulance sector

Incidents (November 2025)

• There were 802,530 ambulance incidents in November 2025, the highest November figure on record.
• There were 80,430 category 1 incidents (life-threatening injuries and illnesses) and 407,260 category 2 incidents, with both categories totalling the highest for any November on record. 

Response times and handovers (November 2025)

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 eight minutes and one second for the third month running. This is 37 seconds faster than last year but missing the national standard of seven minutes. The last time the standard was met was over four and a half years ago in March 2021.
• For category 2 incidents, the average response time was 32 minutes and 46 seconds. This is almost 10 minutes faster than last November but misses the 30-minute recovery target.
• In November 2025, there were 411,190 ambulance handovers where the handover time was known. The mean handover time was 30 minutes 11 seconds, over eight minutes faster on average than last year. 

FIGURE 3

Ambulance response times for category 2 incidents