16 Monday January 3 2022 | the times
News
More than 40,000 people in England
who called 999 with a “category 2” con-
dition such as a stroke or a heart attack
waited more than an hour and 40 min-
utes for an ambulance in November.
They represent one in ten patients in
that category and the NHS target is to
reach them within 18 minutes.
Nationally the average response time
was 46 minutes, but the longest waits
were in southwest England, where the
average was one hour and 13 minutes.
One person in ten waited for at least
two hours and 43 minutes.
The shortest waits were experienced
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Heart attack victims wait hours for ambulance
Kat Lay Health Editor by South Central ambulance patients,
with an average wait of 26 minutes.
One in ten waited at least 53 minutes.
The Stroke Association said that “a
typical stroke patient will lose 1.9 mil-
lion neurons or brain cells each minute
a stroke goes untreated. The faster a
person receives a brain scan to diag-
nose their stroke, the quicker they will
receive appropriate treatment and the
more likely they are to survive and
make a better recovery.”
Wes Streeting, the shadow health
and social care secretary, said: “Every
minute matters for victims of strokes.
It’s a scandal that thousands of people
are left waiting in pain and distress for
hours. Ambulance services are under
huge strain following 11 years of Con-
servative mismanagement of our NHS.
Labour would build the workforce we
need to deliver better care and shorter
waiting times.”
Yesterday Patricia Marquis, of the
Royal College of Nursing, told Times
Radio: “We all need to know that the
NHS would be there for us, or our loved
ones, our neighbours, our friends, if we
need it in an emergency. And at the mo-
ment it’s under such strain that it is
questionable whether you’ll get an am-
bulance in time, whether that ambu-
lance will get you to hospital in time,
whether the hospital will have a bed.”In the West Midlands ambulance
bosses said there had been “severe
patient harm” due to the inability to
meet demand. It said there had been
17 per cent more 999 calls in the five
days to December 28, compared with
the same period in 2019.
Last week London GPs received an
email urging them to use alternatives to
999 where possible because of “excep-
tional pressures” on services.
A spokesman for the Department of
Health said: “NHS England and Im-
provement has given ambulance trusts
an extra £55 million to boost staff num-
bers in control rooms and on the front
line.”Average waiting times
East Midlands.................. 54 min 56 sec
East of England .............51 min 48 sec
Isle of Wight...................... 27 min 33 sec
London................................43 min 40 sec
North East..........................40 min 22 sec
North West .....................48 min 56 sec
South Central...................26 min 47 sec
South East Coast............ 33 min 33 sec
South West..................1hr 13 min 39 sec
West Midlands.................39 min 25 sec
Yorkshire............................................42 min