The dire state of the NHS ambulance service was revealed today by a fascinating graphic and interactive tool.
Response times in England fell in December, with 999 teams attending to heart attack and stroke victims at a slower pace than ever. It took an average of more than 90 million paramedics to receive second category calls. The goal is 18 minutes.
But in the worst-hit parts of the country, such patients had to wait up to six and a half hours for doctors to arrive.
Ambulances also took longer than ever to deal with the most life-threatening calls, such as cardiac arrest. Across England, the average response time was almost 11 million, compared to the NHS target of 7 million.
MailOnline has now compiled the NHS data into one handy tool and image so you can see exactly how slow ambulances have been in your area. App users can use the tool by clicking here.
The South West recorded the slowest average response times for both Category One and Category Two calls.
The teams needed an average of 13:11 minutes or 2:29 hours.
One in ten Category 2 calls also lasted at least 6 hours 39 minutes in the South West, monthly performance data from NHS England showed.
The Isle of Wight finished at the other end of the scale with a Category Two average response time of 39 minutes 45 seconds. However, it was still the double goal.
Patients in the North East and West Midlands experienced the shortest average wait times for Category 1 calls, at 8:51 and 9:14 minutes respectively.
No area in England met the target response time for Category One or Category Two calls.
The figures reflect the whole of December, a month in which NHS paramedics went on strike.
Slow response times are caused by a number of factors, although transmission delays are one of the biggest problems.
According to the NHS targets, ambulance staff arriving at the emergency department must complete all patient transfers within 15 minutes.
But all hospital trusts are increasingly seeing delays in referrals of half an hour or more.
In December, the NHS endured its worst week in ambulance handovers, with a third of patients waiting at least half an hour.
Delays can occur when emergency rooms are overwhelmed by large numbers of ambulances at once and there are space constraints in hospitals, in part to accommodate bed blocking numbers.
Currently, an average of 14,000 beds are occupied daily by patients who are medically healthy enough to be discharged.
The waiting figure for Category 1 ambulances for December is 10 meters and 57 seconds, the longest response time ever reported.
This is 1 million more than the previous record of 9 meters and 56 seconds, which was set in October 2022.
However, almost 1.3 million 999 calls were made nationwide in December – the largest monthly number for 2022.
The monthly data also shows that 999 category three callers – including suspected broken hips and abdominal pain – took an average of 4 hours and 19 minutes, more than double the two-hour target.
The Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan said: “Extreme delays in emergency heart and stroke care cannot become the new normal.
A poll shows that Britons have little confidence that ambulances and the NHS can treat them, but it also found that more than half of respondents blame the government for NHS workers’ strikes.
During the NHS ambulance strikes, army personnel were called in to drive ambulances and replace frontline hospital staff. Army personnel are pictured outside Wellington Barracks in London on Wednesday
Up to 25,000 paramedics, dispatchers, managers and technicians joined the pay and benefits protest on Wednesday. Pictured above, workers in action at London’s main ambulance call center in Newham, east London
Up to 25,000 paramedics, dispatchers, drivers and technicians joined a straight picket line Wednesday over pay and benefits.
Healthcare strikes are expected to put further pressure on the NHS in the coming weeks as ambulance staff walk out again later this month on 23 January.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay is reportedly considering an accelerated pay rise to resolve the dispute, but has so far ruled out any move on current wages.
But when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was asked on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland program today whether he could secure a one-off increase in healthcare spending, he said “a record amount is already going to the NHS”.
Unison leader Christina McAnea, pictured above, joined paramedics at the picket line outside Longley Ambulance Station in Sheffield on Wednesday. Ambulance personnel will be dispatched again later this month, on January 23
The GMB union, one of two behind the ambulance strikes, said lives in the NHS were being put at risk “every day” by the current workforce and not just because of strikes.
Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing will also hold its second phase of strikes next week, which will last for two days, after the government “failed to act” following two days of action last month.
The action – the first in the RCN’s 106-year history – saw strikes at 63 NHS hospital trusts in England, as well as all trusts in Northern Ireland and all but one health authority – the Aneurin Bevan – in Wales.
Young doctors can also join the campaign later in the year as the British Medical Association is currently electing its members to strike.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
