What DOES it take to get an ambulance? 157,000 emergency cases including heart attacks wait at least an hour for a 999 crew

  • Overhaul of response times was introduced last year to prioritise urgent cases 
  • The most serious calls were given a seven-minute response time target
  • Category 2 cases, including heart attacks and strokes, had an 18-minute target
  • Figures show on average targets for both categories were missed every month

By SOPHIE BORLAND and SAMI QUADRI and DANIEL MARTIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Published: | Updated:

A shake-up of 999 response times has left heart attack and stroke victims waiting more than an hour for an ambulance, the Mail can reveal.

They were among the 157,000 emergencies who suffered delays of more than 60 minutes following the introduction of new rules for call handlers.

One patient was forced to wait more than 18 hours after their call was accidentally cancelled by operators

An overhaul of ambulance response times, introduced last year, aimed to give priority to the most urgent cases. The blanket eight-minute target was scrapped and emergencies were split into two types. 

Adelaide Law, 68, died in April following two major strokes in a month. Her daughter Lynsay Law, 26, said ambulances arrived late on three occasions

Adelaide Law, 68, died in April following two major strokes in a month. Her daughter Lynsay Law, 26, said ambulances arrived late on three occasions

According to figures from seven of the ten ambulance trusts in England, a total of 157,370 category 2 calls had to wait at least an hour for an ambulance in 2018 (stock image)

According to figures from seven of the ten ambulance trusts in England, a total of 157,370 category 2 calls had to wait at least an hour for an ambulance in 2018 (stock image)

The most serious, life-threatening category 1 calls were given a seven-minute response time. Ambulances were told to get to category 2 cases – including heart attacks and strokes – within 18 minutes.

But data obtained by the Mail shows these lower priority patients are forced to wait much longer for paramedics to arrive. According to figures from seven of the ten ambulance trusts in England, a total of 157,370 category 2 calls had to wait at least an hour for an ambulance in 2018.

Experts say every minute counts for heart attack and stroke patients. Separate figures by Labour today show that on average, the response targets for both new categories have been missed in every month since they were introduced.

My mum died from stroke when ambulance took hours to arrive 

Lynsay Law and her mother Adelaide

Lynsay Law and her mother Adelaide

A grieving daughter has told how her mother died of a stroke when ambulances were repeatedly late. Adelaide Law, 68, died in April following two major strokes in a month.

Her daughter Lynsay Law, 26, said ambulances arrived late on three occasions. The delays were so bad after the first stroke that the family had to drive Mrs Law to hospital in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Miss Law said relatives called the ambulance straight away after finding her mother unresponsive in March.

‘The woman kept saying “We’ll be with you shortly”,’ she said. ‘It had been 45 minutes since my sister rang them and nobody arrived. So she called the ambulance again, and they said “Sorry, we’re going to be at least another hour”.’

They decided to drive their mother to Bassetlaw Hospital, only to be told it did not have the right equipment and she needed to be transferred to a larger hospital for treatment. Miss Law said: ‘With a stroke you have four hours to get life-saving treatment. We had to ring the ambulance again and say, “You need to get here now”. They arrived late. By then it was too late to have the treatment.’ Her mother slowly started to recover and was returned to Bassetlaw Hospital but suffered another stroke.

An ambulance took several hours to arrive. Mrs Law was brain dead by the time she reached Doncaster.

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According to the analysis, ambulance trusts have missed the category 2 response target of 18 minutes by an average of almost 12 minutes in the worst months.

Rachel Power, of the Patients Association, last night said the Mail’s figures were matter of a ‘profound concern’ and called for additional funding for the ambulance service. ‘Ambulance services must respond in a timely and effective way – this can be literally a matter of life or death,’ she said.

Ambulance services across England are struggling to cope with the soaring number of 999 calls, a shortage of staff and delays outside over-stretched A&E units.

In 2017, only 3,365 so-called ‘red calls’ – the old emergency category which included heart attacks and strokes – were delayed for longer than an hour. Although this figure is based only on the responses of six of the ten ambulance trusts, it is far less than the figure for 2018.

The longest delay for a category 2 call was recorded by the South East Coast Ambulance Service at 18 hours and 37 minutes. A spokesman said the call was ‘cancelled in error’ before being ‘reopened’.

South Central Ambulance Service recorded a delay of 13 hours and 41 minutes and Yorkshire Ambulance Service said a patient waited 13 hours and nine minutes.

The analysis by Labour showed average response time for category 2 emergencies in England has varied between 20 minutes and 15 seconds and 29 minutes and 36 seconds at the worst times.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘These figures show the intense strain that many ambulance trusts are under with targets to respond to the most seriously ill patients being missed month after month. It’s simply unacceptable.’ NHS England said the reforms were ensuring ambulances reached the most urgent patients more quickly. They include road crash victims and patients whose heart has stopped.

A spokesman added: ‘Anyone in a life-threatening situation is treated as a priority and response times to the most seriously ill and injured patients have never been better, with an extra £36million funding to help areas deliver even more improvements.

A South East Coast Ambulance spokesman said: ‘There are times when we may take longer to reach a patient due to periods of increased demand [when] we ensure we prioritise our response to our most seriously ill and injured patients.’

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