Worrying figures released for ambulance waiting times

New figures, obtained after a Freedom of Information request, have shown that four trusts took over 24 hours to respond to emergency calls, whilst one patient waited 62 hours for an ambulance.

In the 12 months between June 2017 and June 2018, ambulances from four trusts took 24 hours to respond to emergency calls, which included some patients with breathing and mental health problems.

Lucy Watson from the Patients Association said the figures were “extremely concerning”, adding “Everybody should be getting the services that they need.

“We know that demand has gone up on all health services as our population is getting older, and we need to see the level of investment increasing so our ambulances can respond in a timely way.”

The figures also show that in the two years between 2015 and 2017, calls to the ambulance service increased by 15 per cent.

A spokesperson from NHS Improvement said an ambulance service response programme had been introduced to help services cope with the increase in demand.

They added “An additional £36 million of funding recently announced will boost paramedic crews and improve the quality of NHS ambulance fleets.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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