Patient Groups concerned over the delays in 999 attendances

It is a sad fact that ambulances in England are taking over 90 minutes, on average, to reach those patients who are experiencing the most serious of emergencies, such as heart attacks and strokes. In some regions, this wait can be 150 minutes.

The data released by NHS England show the worst ever performance since records began nearly 20 years ago.

The BBC have stated that the 999 response times in December 2022 were nearly twice as bad as in November 2022.

Additionally, once the patient is transported to a hospital, there are then waits of over four hours in A&E. Patient safety groups are rightly concerned that this cannot be the “new normal”. British Heart Foundation, Healthwatch England and other patient safety groups are extremely concerned over the growing delays.

The Department of Health and Social Care say they recognise the pressures the NHS was facing and were working to address this issue by investing an extra £750 million into freeing up hospital beds by moving those people who no longer require hospitalisation but are not able to manage on their own, into social care in the community.

Amanda Cavanagh, Associate in the Medical Negligence team at Ashtons Legal, comments: “This report is extremely worrying. The effect of these delays can be catastrophic for some and lead to unnecessary deaths. The pressure placed on hard-working NHS front-line staff is phenomenal and cannot be understated. The NHS and the Government must address this issue. Freeing up beds is a beginning, but we know that without proper investment in training and retention of staff, the already fractured NHS will crumble”.

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