Thousands at risk as A&E queues stop NHS paramedics attending 999 calls

Paramedics in England cannot respond to 117,000 urgent 999 calls every month because they are stuck outside hospitals looking after patients, figures show.

The amount of time ambulance crews had to wait outside A&E units meant they were unavailable to attend almost one in six incidents.

Long delays in handing patients over to A&E staff meant 38,000 people may have been harmed last month alone – one in seven of the 292,000 who had to wait at least 15 minutes.

Of those left at risk of harm, 4,100 suffered potential “severe harm”, according to the bosses of England’s ambulance services.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 October 2022