More than 150,000 patients had to wait over an hour for an ambulance to arrive on the NHS last year at the height of winter pressure, according to newly released figures.
Data obtained by the Labor Party through requests for information showed that in December 2022, a patient had to wait for an ambulance for almost two and a half days.
NHS targets state that “Category 3” patients, which include patients with abdominal pain, burns or diabetic attacks, must be transported by ambulance within two hours.
Labor also found that patients who suffered heart attacks and strokes last December sometimes missed 26 hours in the East Midlands and more than 21 hours in Yorkshire and the South East.
Patients arriving at the hospital by ambulance often had to wait hours for an appointment due to lack of staff and beds.
Figures compiled by Labor from responses from half the emergency services showed that one patient in the North West waited 65 hours, 38 minutes and 13 seconds in December for a Category 3 call to be answered.
Another patient waited 40 hours outside Southwest Hospital.
Category 3 calls classified as urgent but not imminently life threatening must be answered within two hours nine out of ten times.
In total, about 153,000 patients outside hospitals last winter had to wait for an ambulance for more than an hour.
Noting that waiting times for ambulances had been reduced from the winter peak, the government said hundreds of millions of pounds had been invested in the healthcare system.
Labor promised they would try to train more doctors and nurses if they won the next general election.
Shadow Health Minister Wes Streeting commented on the numbers, warning that “patients can no longer rely on ambulances to get to them in an emergency.”
He added: “Stroke and heart attack victims have to wait for hours when every second counts. This is a frightening reality after 13 years of understaffing by conservatives in our NHS.
“Patients should be able to call 999 knowing they will get an answer and an ambulance if they need it. The longer we keep the conservatives in power, the longer the patients will wait.
Mr Streeting vowed that the Labor government would “begin the largest expansion of the NHS staff in history” and focus on “training the staff needed to get patients on time”. He added that this health stimulus would be paid for by removing the non-household tax status.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said: “No one should wait longer than necessary to access emergency and emergency care, and we are working hard to reduce ambulance waiting times, which have been significantly reduced since the peak of winter. Printing in December 2022. .
“Our emergency and disaster recovery plan is enabling people to take action faster with growing community teams, expanding virtual offices, and launching 800 new ambulances. This is on top of the £750 million we have allocated this winter to speed up hospital discharges and free up beds.
The NHS was under unprecedented pressure over the winter as several trusts reported critical incidents, meaning they were unable to provide routine critical services.
In addition to delays in emergency services, queues for non-emergency and elective procedures have also reached an all-time high.
NHS England data show that 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine treatment in hospital at the end of February, the highest number since registration began in 2007.
However, there has been some progress in narrowing the gap to the longest waiting time, with the number of people waiting for treatment over 18 months dropping 35 percent from 45,631 to 29,778 between January and February.
Rishi Sunak has made reducing NHS waiting lists one of his top five priorities as prime minister, with a goal of reducing their numbers by the end of this year.
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.