The Health Foundation: Why have ambulance waiting times been getting worse? (4 November 2022)

Summary

Ambulance services in England are under immense pressure. In July 2022, all ambulance services in England declared REAP (Resource Escalation Action Plan) level four, reflecting potential service failure. Volumes of calls to 999 are increasing, patients in distress and pain are waiting longer for help to reach them, and ambulance teams feel unable to do their job well.

The new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has previously named cutting ambulance waits as his number one priority. As he takes up the role for the second time, he will again need to include ambulances in his list of priorities for the health and care system. Steps taken to date to help address the underlying issues have not yet had an impact on the pressures facing ambulance services.

This analysis from The Health Foundation looks at ambulance service performance and explores the contributing factors and priorities for improvement.

Content

The analysis suggests three ways to improve ambulance service performance:

1. Reduce handover delays by increasing hospital capacity and flow through hospital with more beds, more staff and investment in out-of-hospital care, including social care.
2. Increase ambulance service capacity by further increasing staff numbers and reducing sickness absence by addressing the causes of poor mental health.
3. Reduce demand for ambulances through greater investment in community services, such as mental health services, which can prevent health conditions becoming crises.