Shocking data from the NHS reveals that patients who had emergencies including strokes and heart attacks in England had to wait more than 90 minutes for an ambulance in December 2022, a waiting time that was double November’s .
Data for December shows the worst A&E waiting figures for life threatening conditions such as cardiac arrests, with people with these conditions having to wait over four hours to be seen. These figures represent the worst since records began in 2004.
Louise Ansari, National Director of the Healthwatch England patient group said, “Pressures on the NHS right now are intolerable – with patients paying the price.”
Martin Clark, a 68 year old man from East Sussex, died in November after suffering from chest pains which developed into a cardiac arrest. Martin’s wife, Ann, called an ambulance immediately after he started feeling pains. She called the ambulance three times before she and her son finally decided to take Mr Clark to the hospital themselves where, although he received medical attention, he died.
Speaking to the BBC, Ann disclosed that as Martin was waiting for the ambulance and in pain, he wrote a note saying, “I don’t think I’m going to make it. Love you.” Ann said it was excruciating, adding: “He was let down very badly. They should have come.”
One of the main issues is the long delays that occur at accidents and emergency units.
In November, a third of handovers took more than 30 minutes when they should have been done within 15 minutes. This had risen to more than 40% in December which explains the longer wait compared to the previous month. With high concerns surrounding this issue, the Department of Health and Social Care have declared that they understand the current situation the NHS is facing and are ‘working tirelessly’ to make sure people are being taken care of accordingly.
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