Last year, one in three had to find their own transport to the hospital for themselves or a family member due to ambulance delays and new examinations.
Fifty-five percent of the adults who called for an ambulance said that one came to take them to the hospital, while the rest either drove themselves or did not go to the hospital.
Among them, every sixth (17%) car driver, every tenth (11%) taxi driver and 6% of public transport users who have to wait too long for an ambulance.
A Liberal Democrat Savanta poll of 2,093 UK adults conducted between 24 and 26 March found that 18% had called an ambulance for themselves or a family member in the past year.
Commenting on the new data, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said “the startling numbers reveal the horror of the ambulance crisis in England.”
“Not only do emergency services have to deal with the doldrums of a broken health and care system, now people have to drive or even take a bus to get to the emergency room because the ambulances themselves can’t get there in time.” . continuation.
Ms Cooper called the numbers “truly outrageous” and said government ministers “must apologize to any member of the public who has to go to the hospital himself because the ambulance just couldn’t come on time.”
“It’s a matter of life or death and the government just doesn’t seem to get it,” she added.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for an urgent five-point plan to support emergency services and relieve hospitals, including a long-term strategy to improve social services, increase hospital beds and end ambulances waiting outside hospitals.
Waiting times for ambulances reached an all-time high this winter, with the average arrival time for people needing an ambulance in England due to a stroke, severe burns or chest pain was 93 minutes in December 2022, five times longer than the target operation time of 18 minutes.
The emergency department also experienced acute stress, with 44 percent of patients waiting in an ambulance outside the emergency department for at least 30 minutes to be seen during the week of Jan. 1.
The number of people who waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to the emergency room also hit a 12-year high in December 2022, with 54,532 people waiting that long.
Analysis performed Independent found that nearly 6,000 patients suffered permanent or long-term injuries from long waits to transfer patients outside the emergency department until December 2022, while about 14,000 patients likely suffered “moderate harm.”
Health services will come under even more pressure this week over fears that up to 250,000 appointments and procedures will have to be postponed due to strikes by young doctors.
The strike of junior doctors will begin on Tuesday, April 11, and will last four days. The British Medical Association is calling for a 35% pay rise to offset 15 years of inflation.
“What we are hearing from our members, who are leaders in healthcare in the system, is that they are more concerned about this strike than any other strike,” the doctor said. Leila McKay, political director for the NHS Confederation, told BBC Radio 4. Today program this week.
“They believe that the consequences will be so significant that they are likely to affect the safety of patients, and this is a major concern for any healthcare leader.”
Source: I News
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