NHS ambulances aren’t responding to emergencies as fast as they want to – here’s why (Independent, 2 July 2022)

Summary

Over the past year, delays in transferring patients from an ambulance to a hospital have risen exponentially. In April 2022 there were over 41,000 delays of over 60 minutes, up over a staggering 450 per cent in 12 months.

This equates to 71,000 hours lost, with a significant risk of harm to patients, even though the proportion being taken to hospital by ambulance has fallen thanks to successful initiatives such as “hear and treat” and “see and treat”.

These delays mean that, too often, ambulance crews are not able to respond to 999 calls from critically ill patients. Instead they are being held in “stacks” of hundreds each day – as ambulance control room teams strive to prioritise overstretched resources. The current reality is that crews are often waiting with patients in hospital corridors or outside, hearing urgent calls to which they are unable to respond.

In addition to the direct impact on patients, this is incredibly demoralising, even traumatising, for many staff involved. So why is this happening? In an article for the Independent, Daren Mochrie, chair of AACE – the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, and Saffron Cordrey, interim chief executive at NHS Provider, discusses what is happening in the NHS.