Emergency care in ‘dire’ situation as performance plummets over weekend

Several ambulance trusts have moved to the highest level of alert in the wake of severe pressure on emergency services in recent days.

Internal data seen by HSJ suggests ambulance response times have deteriorated dramatically, while the average time for call handlers to answer 999 calls has increased to almost two minutes in some areas.

Staff across the country have been sounding the alarm over the pressures, with one senior source saying the situation was “really dire” again, after a period in which pressures had eased in August and September.

The internal data showed ambulance trusts in the South West, East of England, London and the West Midlands had all declared the highest level of alert, known as REAP 4. More are expected to follow.

The average response time for category 2 calls in the South West – including suspected heart attacks and strokes – was 1 hour 24 minutes, with 10% of these calls responded to in more than 3 hours 11 minutes. The target is 18 minutes.

Emergency departments have also faced severe pressure. An emergency care consultant in Plymouth tweeted that patients were facing 70-hour waits to be admitted to wards, with some waiting 18 hours to be handed over by ambulance staff. Fionna Lowe added: “I have taken to asking families to feed their relatives. It has never been this bad.”

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Source: HSJ, 4 October 2022