EMERGENCY patients were forced to wait more than 10 hours for ambulances in the worst delays last year, NHS figures reveal. The longest waits for Category 2 calls, including heart attacks and strokes , passed 10 hours in all areas of England in 2023. The worst was a shocking 16 hours and 49 minutes in East Anglia.
In previous years patients have died after enduring similar delays. NHS standards stipulate a crew should arrive within 18 minutes for Category 2 calls. Nearly all of the ambulance trusts also left Category 1 life-or-death patients waiting more than an hour – way above the seven-minute target.
Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “It is terrifying to think that, if you suffered a stroke or heart attack, an ambulance may not reach you in time , if at all.” A Freedom of Information investigation found less urgent Category 3 and 4 callers languished for longer than two days in some areas. Seven out of England’s 10 regional ambulance services provided data.
The worst delayed Category 3 call, in the West Midlands, took a staggering 57 hours 39 minutes and 25 seconds. Category 3 is classed as urgent but not an emergency, and could include injuries, burns or diabetes complications. Ambulance services in England have not hit targets for Category 2 – the most common calls – in normal times since current records began in 2017, only doing so during the first Covid lockdown.
Busy hospitals mean patient handovers take longer than they should while.
