Ambulances taking 90 minutes to get to 999 calls

Patients with emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes in England had to wait more than 90 minutes on average for an ambulance at the end of 2022.

It came after a sharp deterioration in 999 response times in December - they were nearly twice as bad as November.

Record worst waits were also recorded for life-threatening cardiac arrests, while A&E waits of over four-hours reached their highest level ever.

Patient groups warned the delays would be leading to real harm.

Combined, the data - released by NHS England - represents the worst-ever set of emergency care figures since modern records began in 2004.

The figures show:

Average waits of more than 90 minutes to reach emergency calls such as heart attacks - five times longer than the target time - with waits of over 150 minutes in some regions.

Response times for the highest priority calls, such as cardiac arrests, taking close to 11 minutes - 4 minutes longer than they should.

More than a third of patients in A&E waiting longer than 4 hours.

One in seven patients waiting more than 12 hours for a bed on a ward when they need to be admitted.

But there has been some progress with the waiting list for routine treatment falling slightly, to 7.19 million by the end of November.

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Source: BBC News, 12 January 2023