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Ambulance workers to strike on 10 February

Thousands of ambulance staff across five services in England - London, Yorkshire, the South West, North East and North West - will walk out on Friday 10 February, Unison says.

It means strikes over pay will now be happening across the NHS every day next week, apart from Wednesday.

Life-threatening 999 calls will be attended to but others may not be.

Downing Street says the continuing industrial action will concern the public.

The NHS's biggest day of industrial action is set to happen on 6 February, when many nurses and ambulance crews across England and Wales will be on strike.

Unison says the government must stop "pretending the strikes will simply go away" and act decisively to end the dispute by improving pay.

The union warned that unless the government had a "major rethink" over NHS pay, and got involved in "actual talks" with unions, it would announce strike dates running into March.

The government says the above-inflation pay rises requested are unaffordable.

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Source: BBC News, 31 January 2023

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Ambulance workers in England to strike again in January

Ambulance staff in five areas of England are to stage two further strikes in January, union leaders say.

The industrial action on 11 and 23 January is likely to heap more pressure on emergency care, which is already under serious strain.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said further strike action was in no one's best interest.

Unison leaders say the action is a direct result of the government's refusal to negotiate over pay.

Life-threatening calls to 999, as well as the most serious emergency calls, will still be responded to, they say.

Services in London, Yorkshire, the North West, North East and South West will take action over pay and staffing.

The January strikes will each last for 24 hours from midnight, Unison says, and will involve all ambulance employees - not just 999 response crews.

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Source: BBC News, 22 December 2022

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Ambulance waits: 'Can you please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead'

Delays unloading ambulances at busy hospitals are causing serious harm to patients, a safety watchdog is warning.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch has been investigating how the long waits are delaying 999 emergency response times across England.

Kenneth Shadbolt, 94, waited more than five hours for an ambulance after a bad fall - an accident that proved fatal.

Logs show that in his final 999 call he asked: "Can you please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead."

Ken Shadbolt had been in good shape for his age. On the night of Wednesday, 23 March 2022, just before 03:00, he got out of bed to go the bathroom and fell, hitting a wardrobe before collapsing on the floor.

He had hurt his hip - how badly he didn't know - and couldn't get up. He could reach his mobile on his bedside, though, and dialled 999 for help.

The BBC has seen transcripts of the three separate phone calls he made to South Western Ambulance Service that night.

The first was short and factual, covering the basic details of his injury. 

He seemed calm and lucid but made clear he was in pain and needed an ambulance. Internal call logs seen by the BBC show that at this point Ken was triaged as a category two emergency, meaning paramedics should arrive in 18 minutes, on average.

About 15 minutes later, Ken called 999 for a second time.

An internal ambulance service log seen by the BBC shows that South Western Ambulance Service was indeed busy that night.

It talks about "high demand" in the Gloucester area, with more than 60 patients waiting for help, some for more than eight hours.

Another hour passed before Ken made his third and final call to 999.

It was clear now that he was in serious pain. He felt "terrible sick" and said his "breathing is going too".

"I need an ambulance because I'm going to fade away quite quickly," he said.

The same reply came back: "The ambulance service is just under a lot of pressure at the moment... we are doing our best."

An ambulance finally got to Kenneth Shadbolt's house at 08:10 that morning, four hours after that final call.

Ken died at 14:21 that afternoon, with the cause of death given as a "very large subdural haematoma" or bleed on the brain.

His son Jerry Shadbolt said: "The doctors were saying his injuries were non-survivable but would they have been non-survivable if he'd arrived at hospital four hours earlier? I'd like an answer to that question.

"He was on his own and he knew he was on his own. He must have felt abandoned and alone on his bedroom floor. That's the most troubling part of it for me."

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Source: BBC News, 16 June 2022

 

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Ambulance waits quadruple in handover hotspots

Ambulance waiting times for stroke and suspected heart attacks have quadrupled in four parts of England since before Covid-19 – whereas others have only grown by half – underlining the severe impact of long accident and emergency handovers.

Response times have leapt across England over the past two years, particularly for category 2 and 3 incidents, but the data makes clear that the steepest increases are in areas where hospitals have the biggest handover delay problems.

Of the 10 patches with the largest increases in average category 2 performance between 2018-19 and 2021-22, four are served by major hospitals which make up NHS England’s “cohort one” of trusts selected for the worst handover problems; and four more are on government’s list of 15 which accounted for the most long handover delays last winter. 

The increase in handover delays – in turn linked to delayed discharge, staffing, lack of community services and social care’s collapse – are the stand-out reason for areas with a steep rise in response times.

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Source: HSJ, 18 November 2022

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Ambulance waits putting disabled children's lives at risk, doctors warn

Thousands of severely disabled children's lives are at risk because of long waits for ambulances, doctors and other experts have warned.

Emergency care is a vital part of their everyday lives, the British Academy of Childhood Disability says. 

Almost 100,000 children have life-limiting conditions or need regular ventilator support in the UK. They often rely on ambulances as part of their healthcare plan, because their condition can become life-threatening in an instant.

Dr Toni Wolff, who chairs the British Academy of Childhood Disability, told BBC News some families with severely disabled children had "what are essentially high-dependency units" of medical equipment at home.

"As part of their healthcare plan, we would normally say, 'If the child starts to deteriorate, call for an ambulance and it will be there within 10 or 20 minutes,'" she said.

"Now, we can't give that reassurance."

Despite their child being classed as a priority, parents have told BBC News they face the difficult decision to wait for an ambulance or take them, often in a life-threatening condition, to hospital themselves - a risk because of the huge amounts of equipment needed to keep them alive,

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Source: BBC News, 16 February 2023

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Ambulance waits of 40 hours as NHS delays worsen

More than 11,000 ambulances a week are caught in queues of at least an hour outside A&E units in England, a BBC News analysis shows.

The total - the highest since records began, in 2010 - means one in seven crews faced delays on this scale by late November.

Paramedics warned the problems were causing patients severe harm.

One family told BBC News an 85-year-old woman with a broken hip had waited 40 hours before a hospital admission.

She waited an "agonising" 14 hours for the ambulance to arrive and then 26 in the ambulance outside hospital.

When finally admitted, to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, which has apologised for her care, she had surgery.

Both ambulance response times and A&E waits have hit their worst levels on record in all parts of the UK in recent months.

In Cornwall, patients facing emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes are now waiting more than two hours on average for an ambulance. The target is 18 minutes.

They are thought to be among the worst delays in the country but none of England's ambulance services is close to the target, while Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all missing their targets.

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Source: BBC News, 1 December 2022

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Ambulance waits down by nearly an hour in a month

Ambulance crews reached emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes one hour quicker in January than December in England, figures show.

They took 32 minutes on average, compared with more than 90 the month before.

The target is 18 minutes but January's average was the quickest for 19 months.

A&E waiting times also improved, with just over a quarter of patients waiting longer than four hours - down from more than a third in December.

But Society for Acute Medicine president Dr Tim Cooksley said wait times remained "intolerable".

And he highlighted the waits the sickest and most frail were facing for a bed on a ward.

Nearly four out of every 10 patients waited over four hours on trolleys and in corridors.

"The fundamental problem remains a significant shortage of workforce, leading to woefully inadequate inpatient bed and social-care capacity," Dr Cooksley added.

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Source: BBC News, 9 February 2023

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Ambulance wait times endangering patients, doctors say

Doctors and paramedics have told the BBC that long waits for ambulances across the UK are having a "dangerous impact" on patient safety.

BBC analysis found a 77% rise in the most serious safety incidents logged by paramedics in England over the past year, compared to before the pandemic.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the 999 system is also under "tremendous pressure", doctors say.

NHS England said the safety of patients is its "absolute priority".

In October, nine-year-old Willow Clark fell off her bike on a country path in Hertfordshire, cracking her helmet and leaving her with a fractured skull and a nine-inch laceration across her leg.

"I could see it was a really bad accident and I was 20 minutes away from home screaming for help," said her mother Sam. "These really nice people who were passing by phoned 999.

"They explained she had a severe head injury and her leg was badly hurt but we were told it would be a 10-hour wait for an ambulance and we'd have to get her to hospital ourselves."

When they got to A&E, Willow was immediately transferred to the trauma department. Doctors told her family that she should not have been moved because of her back and neck injuries.

She later found out that Willow had been classified as an "urgent" category three case, meaning an ambulance should have arrived within 120 minutes.

Coroners and lawyers have highlighted recent cases including:

  • Staffordshire's assistant coroner issued a 'prevention of future deaths' warning after a patient in Stoke died after waiting eight hours for an ambulance.
  • The family of a man who died after waiting nine hours for treatment has issued a legal challenge against the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service over a "chronic shortage" of ambulances.
  • The London Ambulance service is investigating after a man died when paramedics took almost 70 minutes to respond to a suspected heart attack.

Dr Katherine Henderson, an A&E consultant and president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the BBC's Today programme the problem with ambulance waits was "more serious than we've ever seen it".

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Source: BBC News, 12 May 2022

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Ambulance trusts on 'black alert'

999 calls soar as patients experience record waiting times in the back of ambulances. 

The Independent has seen a leaked brief from the West Midlands Ambulance Service and has found patients have been waiting for hours outside hospitals, meaning ambulances could not respond to any emergency 999 calls. 

Ambulance staff have also faced hours of delays resulting in at least four hours or more at the end of their 12 hour shift. 

The briefing in June said "“This current situation is unacceptable and leads to fatigue, poor morale, has impacts on patient safety and potentially non-compliance with the Working Time Directive.”

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Source: The Independent, 9 July 2021

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Ambulance trust reveals patient’s death amid handover delays row

An ambulance trust has highlighted the death of a woman which it says was due to “being delayed on the back of an ambulance”, just two days after it warned that lives were ‘at risk’ from long handovers.

West Midlands Ambulance Service University Foundation Trust’s board papers this month reveal the woman in her 90s — who has not been named — was taken to hospital because a severe nose bleed would not stop.

Its clinical quality board paper says the “patient story” showed ”how a patient being delayed on the back of an ambulance resulted in significant deterioration and ultimately the death of a patient”.

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Source: HSJ, 28 May 2021

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Ambulance trust covered up paramedics’ fatal errors like a ‘criminal gang’

An ambulance trust has been accused of acting like a “criminal gang” and lying to dead patients’ families by an employee who repeatedly warned about paramedics’ mistakes being covered up.

Paul Calvert, a coroner’s officer whose job was to produce reports on deaths, tried to raise concerns about managers at the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) for three years before walking out last year on the verge of a breakdown.

“My life was being made a misery,” said Calvert, who was previously a detective with Northumbria police. “They were basically like a criminal gang. I had tried everything I could to warn the proper authorities about how the service was destroying and concealing evidence meant for the coroner. I spoke to my managers, to human resources, to external auditors. I even made disclosures to the Care Quality Commission and Northumbria police. Nothing was done about it.”

Despite their denials of a large-scale cover-up of mistakes, the NEAS this year offered Calvert £41,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement it asked him to sign. One of the clauses meant destroying all the evidence he had collected. Another tried to stop him making any further disclosures to police.

Reports and witness statements from ambulance staff were not being disclosed to the coroner “on a daily basis”, according to Calvert, amounting to key pieces of evidence relating to deaths being hidden from the public.

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Source: The Times, 29 May 2022

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Ambulance transfer delays are 'matter of concern', coroner warns

The availability of ambulances to transfer patients to specialist units is a "matter of concern", a coroner has warned.

Darren Stewart, area coroner for Suffolk, made the comments in a Prevention of Future Deaths report.

It followed the death of 84-year-old Dennis King, who waited three hours to be transferred from West Suffolk Hospital to Royal Papworth in 2022.

Mr King had made his own way to the West Suffolk Hospital's accident and emergency department in December 2022, after being told an ambulance could take six hours to arrive at his home due to high demand in the area, the report said.

His call had been graded as category two, which should have led to a response within 40 minutes - or a target of 18 minutes.

After tests at West Suffolk Hospital showed Mr King had suffered a STEMI heart attack, emergency clinicians liaised with experts from the regional heart unit and decided he needed an urgent transfer to Royal Papworth in Cambridgeshire.

The report said a matron at West Suffolk told ambulance call handlers they needed an urgent transfer - but because Mr King was classed as being in a "place of safety", control room staff said the delay would be "several hours".

Mr Stewart said: "the availability of ambulances to carry out transfers in a timely manner, in urgent cases" was "a matter of concern".

In the report, Mr Stewart said the circumstances of the case "raised concerns about the NHS approach to centralising care in regional centres" if the means to deliver it were "inadequate".

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Source: BBC News, 23 January 2024

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Ambulance strike threatens ‘different magnitude of risk’

The ambulance staff strike next week represents a far higher risk to patient safety and services than the nurses’ strike, but a blanket elective ban will only be used as “an absolute last resort”, a senior NHS England director said today.

However, NHSE elective recovery chief Sir Jim Mackey’s comments come despite several local leaders telling HSJ significant amounts of elective activity are likely to need to be postponed due to the ambulance staff walkout on 21 and 28 December, to free up capacity to deal with emergency care pressure.

Speaking at a King’s Fund conference this morning, Sir Jim said: “The ambulance strike is a completely different order of magnitude of risk [than the nurses’ strike]. I think that’s the main thing people are worried about because of the complexity and fragility of urgent care.”

However, he added: “If we were to give [national guidance on what elective activity to cancel] today, the only guidance we could give would be to cancel absolutely everything, and that’s really not going to help anybody…

“I think we’ll just have to take it day-by-day and keep learning from each other and sharing intelligence… and then, if at some point, there is a case for blanket order, we’ll consider that… But, we really want to do that as an absolute last resort.”

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Source: HSJ, 15 December 2022

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Ambulance strike cover must be sufficient, says health secretary

Unions must ensure there will be "sufficient" staffing during this week's ambulance strike to protect patients, the health secretary says.

Workers in England and Wales will walk out on Wednesday in a dispute over pay, but life-threatening emergencies will be responded to.

Unions say discussions were still taking place with ambulance trusts to draw up detailed plans for cover.

Steve Barclay said there is a lack of clarity about what is being offered.

He said it was for the unions to ensure they "meet their obligations" for emergency cover so that people in crisis get the care they need.

But Unite leader Sharon Graham, whose union is co-ordinating the ambulance strikes with Unison and GMB, said Mr Barclay will "have to carry the can if patients suffer".

The ambulance walkouts will involve paramedics as well as control room staff and support workers.

The action by the three main ambulance unions - Unison, GMB and Unite - will affect non-life threatening calls, meaning those who suffer trips, falls or other injuries may not receive treatment.

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Source: BBC News, 19 December 2022

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Ambulance strike cover insufficient, says health secretary

The health secretary said "voluntary arrangements" for emergency cover during recent ambulance strikes could not "ensure patient and public safety".

In a letter to the GMB, Steve Barclay acknowledged unions that walked out had agreed to answer the most serious category one 999 calls.

But he said the lack of cover for category two calls, including strokes, in some areas put lives at risk.

The GMB has accused the government of "demonising" its striking workers.

In response, Mr Barclay wrote on Sunday that he recognised the right to strike and accepted "that a certain amount of disruption is inherent to any strike".

He said he "greatly" valued the "vital work ambulance workers do" but criticised the "volatile" assurances given to him about cover by trade unions during December's industrial action.

The government's anti-strike bill is due to be considered by MPs again on Monday.

The legislation would set minimum service levels for fire, ambulance and rail services during industrial action and could leave unions at risk of legal action if they fail to comply.

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Source: BBC News, 15 January 2023

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Ambulance staff told to leave patients in hospital corridors

A health minister has defended plans for ambulances to leave patients in hospital corridors after 45 minutes to be able to respond faster to 999 calls.

While emergency doctors have criticised the move, Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, said the policy had “worked very well” in London.

The Times revealed that NHS England has told ambulance services to think about adopting the “drop and go” system used in London, which is credited with cutting response times for heart attacks and strokes.

Ambulance bosses argue it is safer to leave patients in hospital — even if they have not yet been admitted — rather than risk delays in reaching life-threatening emergencies.

However, A&E doctors insist that it is “not acceptable” to abandon patients without a proper handover and assessment by hospital staff and warn of rows between staff as the health service anticipates a tough winter.

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Source: The Times, 21 October 2024

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Ambulance staff to strike on 21 December

Ambulance staff across most of England and Wales will go on strike on 21 December in a dispute over pay.

The coordinated walkout by the three main ambulance unions - Unison, GMB and Unite - will affect non-life threatening calls only.

But it could mean people who have had trips and falls not being responded to.

Members of GMB, which represents nearly a third of the 50,000-strong workforce, will then follow that up with another walkout on 28 December.

It comes as Royal College of Nursing members are also preparing to go on strike on 15 and 20 December in parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The walkouts will involve paramedics as well as control room staff and support workers, with the military on standby to help out.

The only service which will be completely unaffected, however, is the East of England.

Under trade union rules, life-preserving care has to be provided so the two highest category calls - covering everything from heart attacks and strokes to major trauma - will still be responded to.

But Matthew Taylor, of the NHS Confederation, which represents health managers, said he was worried the action would "undoubtedly" affect patient care and how quickly ambulance services could respond and may even deter people from seeking help.

"The prospect of industrial action over Christmas is very concerning," he added.

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Source: BBC News, 6 December 2022

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Ambulance staff experiencing ‘horrific’ abuse and attacks, NHS warns

Ambulance staff are experiencing “horrific” abuse from the public as attacks on workers increased by 23% in the wake of the pandemic.

Assaults against female ambulance staff have risen by 48% in the last five years, according to a new report from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE).

In response to rising attacks, the NHS has launched a #workwithoutfear campaign to prevent abuse of ambulance staff. Last year there were 11,749 attacks against ambulance staff, equating to 32 workers being abused or attacked every day.

AACE said incidents included kicking, slapping, headbutting and verbal abuse, and ranged from common assault to serious attacks involving knives and weapons.

Daren Mochrie, chair of AACE and chief executive of North West Ambulance Service said ambulance staff “face the possibility of violence, assault and aggression” on every shift.

“When they occur, these attacks have a significant and lasting impact on the team member, affecting every aspect of their life."

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Source: The Independent, 28 February 2022

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Ambulance staff being 'pushed beyond breaking point' as 2.7m hours of overtime revealed

Scottish ambulance staff have worked more than 2.7 million hours of overtime, costing taxpayers almost £74 million - with concerns raised the pressures are “pushing already exhausted staff beyond breaking point”.

The statistics come amid separate analysis of cancer waiting times showing patients waited a year for treatment to begin and a warning from a senior doctor that “the Scottish NHS is struggling to provide the care patients need, when they need it”.

New statistics revealed under freedom of information legislation, showed 2,718,922 hours of overtime were worked by paramedics, ambulance technicians, care assistants and specialist nurses between 2020 and 2024.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, said the situation was “completely unacceptable”, and claimed the ambulance service was being “kept afloat” by overtime.

He added: “This will be pushing already exhausted staff beyond breaking point and is completely unsustainable.

“Relying on overstretched staff to plug gaps in shift will be putting staff as well as patients at serious risk.

“Ambulance crews have been left dangerously understaffed because of years of dire workforce planning by successive SNP health secretaries who are clueless to the scale of the emergency facing them.”

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Source: The Scotsman, 15 July 2025

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Ambulance staff arrested in deaths probe

Two ambulance workers in the South West have been arrested as part of a major investigation into six deaths, a trust and police have confirmed.

Wiltshire police today said a man in his 30s was arrested in June 2024 on suspicion of six counts of gross negligence manslaughter and four counts of ill-treatment or wilful neglect by a care worker, while a 59-year-old woman was arrested in March this year on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Both individuals, who have since been released on conditional bail, were employees of South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust in 2023 when Wiltshire police began its investigation following an initial report.

SWASFT confirmed that both individuals were suspended “as soon as the trust became aware of any concerns” and that one of the two individuals “is no longer employed by the trust”.

Police said the arrests relate to an investigation into “several adult deaths in and around Wiltshire”.

SWASFT said it wanted to “reassure people that this is an isolated situation and there is no on-going risk to patients”.

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Source: HSJ, 19 September 2025

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Ambulance staff and nurses to strike on same day

Ambulance workers are to join nurses in taking strike action on 6 February in England and Wales in what will be the biggest NHS walkout in this dispute.

The GMB announced four new stoppages for ambulance staff - one of which coincides with a nurses' strike date.

It is the first time both ambulance staff and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have acted on the same day.

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: "Ambulance workers are angry. Our message to the government is clear - talk pay now."

The walkouts by staff including paramedics, call handlers and support workers in seven of the 10 English ambulance services along with the national Welsh service will take place on 6 and 20 February, and 6 and 20 March.

Under trade union laws, both unions will have to provide emergency cover.

But it raises the prospect of urgent 999 calls for falls not being responded to, and a huge chunk of pre-planned hospital care such as hernia repair, hip replacements or outpatient clinics not being done.

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Source: BBC News, 18 January 2023

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Ambulance staff afraid to speak out amid a culture of sexism, racism and bullying, report warns

NHS Ambulance service have a “fear of speaking up” amid pervasive “cliquey”, sexist, racist and homophobic cultures, a watchdog has warned.

A national guardian has warned of negative cultures in trusts preventing workers from raising concerns as she called for a “cultural review” of ambulance organisations.

The review into whistleblower concerns, by the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian’s office, has found widespread cultural issues including clique-like behaviour and bullying and harassment.

Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark, the NHS National Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, has now called on ministers and the NHS to independently review ambulance services, after speaking with ambulance staff across five NHS trusts.

The report has called for a cultural review of the ambulance service by NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and ministers.

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Source: The Independent, 24 February 2023

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Ambulance should have been called 90 minutes before baby delivered in ‘high-risk’ home birth, inquest hears

A midwife who broke down in tears at the inquest of a baby who was delivered “blue and floppy” said an ambulance should have been called almost an hour-and-a-half before the birth.

Poppy Hope Lomas was seven days old when she died on 26 October 2022 following complications during a “high-risk” home birth that her mother said she was encouraged to have.

Barnet Coroner’s Court had previously heard Poppy’s mother Gemma Lomas, from Enfield, north London, was not made aware of the risks involved with delivering naturally in her home, having already delivered her first daughter, Willow, by caesarean in 2018.

Midwife Sasha Field, who was present at Poppy’s birth, said in her written statement, which was read out to the inquest by senior coroner Andrew Walker, that an ambulance should have been called around 90 minutes before Poppy was born when she heard the baby’s heart rate slow down after a contraction, as a report by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch had found.

In fact, midwives told Jason Lomas, Poppy’s father, to call an ambulance at around 10.37pm, two minutes after she was born, by which time it was clear she was showing no signs of life, Ms Field said in her statement.

Read full article.

Source: The Independent (21 April 2026)

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Ambulance services underprepared for ‘mass casualty incidents’

Ambulance services would still struggle to respond effectively to a mass-casualty event like the Manchester Arena bombing, HSJ has learned, as nearly all have been denied the funding needed to bolster preparedness.

The public inquiry report on the May 2017 attack, which killed 22, was sharply critical of the emergency services’ response, including North West Ambulance Service Trust. The inquiry’s November 2022 report made nearly 150 recommendations to prepare for future attacks.

Crucially, ambulance trusts were told to review their capacity to respond to a mass-casualty incident – including whether they had enough trained specialist staff – then tell commissioners what extra funding they need to ”respond effectively”.

Gaps identified included the availability of 24/7 “critical care cars”, specialist practitioners in hazardous area response teams, and tactical commanders in operations centres.

But eight out of England’s 10 ambulance trusts have confirmed to HSJ – through Freedom of Information requests and follow-up enquiries – that they have not received funding from commissioners to cover what they found was needed.

HSJ understands that, while some trusts have strengthened specialist teams using other income, they have not received funding for the majority of what the reviews said was needed, and there are therefore still significant gaps in readiness.

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Source: 14 February 2025

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Ambulance services seek regional commissioning

A report published today has revealed the creation of single regional boards to commission ambulance services is under discussion with NHS England and Improvement.

According to the report titled Rapid response: the role of the ambulance sector in transforming services and coping with the long-term impact of covid-19, ambulance trusts are to be involved in regional, integrated care system and place-level decision-making to maximise their contribution to more integrated services has also been called for. 

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson and Association of Ambulance Chief Executives chair Daren Mochrie said: “As well as providing mobile treatment services, ambulance trusts have the potential to be an absolutely crucial co-ordinator on the urgent and emergency care pathway. We think there is a real opportunity there that is being missed."

Read full story (paywalled).

Source: HSJ, 12 August 2021

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