1.5 million patients delayed in the back of ambulances since 2016
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Ahead of Labour's NHS rally in Leeds tomorrow (Saturday), Labour’s
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth reveals new Labour
research which shows that almost 1.5 million patients have been
delayed in the back of ambulances in the past 3 years. Last year
503,887 people were delayed more than 30 minutes in the back of
ambulances –so called ‘handover delays’. Guidance states
that patients should be handed over to hospital staff
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Ahead of Labour's NHS rally in Leeds tomorrow (Saturday),
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth reveals new Labour
research which shows that almost 1.5 million patients have been
delayed in the back of ambulances in the past 3 years.
Analysis of Freedom of Information requests sent to NHS
Ambulance Trusts found that in 2018/19, 503,887 people were
delayed more than 30 minutes in the back of ambulances. In the
same year 79,352 people were delayed more than 60 minutes.
Over the past three financial years, 1,499,053 people were
delayed more than 30 minutes, however due to missing data it is
likely that the true figure could be much higher.
Ambulance handover delays can be caused by lack of capacity in
accident and emergency departments and delays can pose an
increased risk to patients according to NHS England.
Earlier this month, Freedom of Information requests found that
last year alone over £68 million was spent on private
ambulances by ambulance trusts in England. The data also showed
that that there has been a 17 per cent increase in the amount
spent on transporting patients to hospital by taxi, up from
£17 million in 2017 to £19.9 million in 2018.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary, said:
“This is damning evidence of the crisis our NHS has been pushed
into after a decade of cuts. Many of these patients will be
elderly in desperate need yet they have been left waiting and
waiting.
“It’s a disgrace and comes after cuts to 17,000 hospital beds
under the Tories.
“You can’t trust Boris Johnson with our NHS but you can
trust Labour to deliver the standards of care patients deserve
with our £40 billion cash rescue plan.”
Ends Notes to editors
9 out of 10 Ambulance trusts responded to a freedom of
information request.
*South Central Ambulance Service: Figures not available for
2016/17 and figures for 2017/18 are from November 2017 onwards
** West Midlands cannot provider data for 2016/17
*** Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust did not respond to
the request
The national guidance states that patients arriving at an
emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the
care of A&E staff within 15 minutes.
According to NHS England, ambulance handover delays result in
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