Nearly 3,500 patients across the East of England with conditions like heart attacks and strokes waited more than five hours for an ambulance in December
3,398 people with “emergency” conditions, such as suspected strokes or heart attacks, had to wait more than five hours for an ambulance in December.
The average response time for so-called ‘Category 2 ambulance calls’ across the East of England was a staggering two hours and six minutes, while one in ten patients in this category waited over five hours (05:16:40). Category 2 is for “emergency calls” – for conditions such as heart attacks and strokes. The NHS target response time is 18 minutes.
Waiting times for “urgent” cases – for conditions such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns, and diabetic attacks – also reached record highs in December. The average response time for Category 3 ambulance calls across England was 4 hours and 18 minutes, while 8,700 patients with such conditions waited more than 11 hours.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Labour Party, raised the case of Stephanie, a 26 year-old cancer patient from Plymouth who died while waiting for an ambulance only 2.3 miles from a hospital on the 4th of January. The Labour leader called on the Prime Minister to apologise for “the lethal chaos he is presiding over.”
Jack Abbott, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Ipswich, said:
“After 13 years of Conservative mismanagement of the NHS, the East of England has some of the longest ambulance waiting times in the country.
“Local people are terrified that if the worst happens, and they or their loved ones need urgent care, they may be left waiting hours for an ambulance.
“I want to thank all the paramedics and staff right across the NHS who are working tirelessly to keep us safe in the face of this crisis. Ipswich desperately needs a Labour government that will end this crisis by providing the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history.”
Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care said:
“Patients can no longer rely on the NHS being there for them in an emergency. Heart attack and stroke victims are left waiting hours for an ambulance, when every second counts.
“That is the terrifying reality after 13 years of Conservative mismanagement of the health service.
“Labour will provide the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history to treat patients on time again, and reform the health service to make it fit for the future. We will train 7,500 more doctors and 10,000 more nurses and midwives every year, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status. Patients need doctors and nurses more than the wealthiest need a tax break.”