Patients wait over an hour-and-a-half for ambulance 999 calls to be ANSWERED
BRITS needing ambulances waited up to an hour-and-a-half to get through on 999 in December, figures reveal.
Some patients also waited more than three hours for 111 calls to be answered, analysis by the Labour Party found.
At the height of the winter crisis, ambulances took an average of 90 minutes to reach those with conditions like heart attacks and strokes.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Patients can no longer be sure their 999 call will be answered or that an ambulance will arrive when they need one.
“People are just praying they don’t fall ill or suffer an accident.”
Official NHS figures show patients waited longer than ever for ambulances during December.
Long handover delays, caused by a bed shortage during a surge in flu, meant many vehicles were unable to pick up more patients because they were stuck in queues outside A&E.
But more than 50,000 emergency calls were also left ringing for five minutes or longer before being answered, adding further to delays.
December saw a record 1.27million 999 and nearly 3million 111 calls dealt with by the health service.
The Labour analysis is based on data gathered from Freedom Of Information requests sent to all ambulance trusts in England.
Of those that responded, Yorkshire Ambulance Service had the longest wait, with
one patient on the phone for an hour and 37 minutes before their call was picked up.
For comparison, the longest wait at East Midlands Ambulance Service was just over five minutes.
Three trusts saw patients wait longer than an hour before someone picked up their 111 call.
Some patients using the service whose symptoms required a call back from a nurse also waited more than a day to get a ring.
Dennis Reed, director elderly charity Silver Voices, told The Sun: “These statistics show that England no longer provides a reliable health emergency service.
“Waiting over an hour just to get through to a 999 operator, and then another hour and a half for the ambulance to show up, can be a death warrant for anyone suffering a heart attack or stroke.
“How have we allowed the NHS to wither away like this?”
An NHS England spokesperson said 111 and 999 answer response times have improved since December.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “Sadly, last winter, we saw some patients wait a very long time for ambulances because of long hospital handover delays.
“The pressures in health and social care meant that when our crews arrived at A&E they were unable to hand over patients and therefore couldn’t respond to the next patient.”