January 2020. Heart attack, stroke and burns victims are among the seriously ill and injured patients waiting over an hour for an ambulance to arrive in England and Wales, a BBC investigation shows. The delays for these 999 calls – meant to be reached in 18 minutes on average – put lives at risk, experts say. The problems affect one in 16 “emergency” cases in England – with significant delays reported in Wales. NHS bosses blamed rising demand and delays handing over patients at A&E. Many ambulance services have increased staffing – only to find the extra resource largely being swallowed up by the rise in delays faced by crews queuing outside hospitals. This has meant they have had to prioritise the most serious “immediately life-threatening” cases, such as cardiac arrests. But these represent just a small proportion of the high-priority 999 calls. Some of the longest waits for the next most serious level of calls, including those having fits as well as heart attack, stroke and burns victims, exceeded five hours.
Jan 2020. Ambulance Response Times in England
