Ambulance delays leave one in three to make their own way to hospital

10 Apr 2023

EMBARGO: 00:01 MONDAY 10TH APRIL

People forced to drive or even take public transport because ambulance waiting times were too long
People turning to taxis after dialling 999 as waiting times reach record highs
Lib Dems call for emergency recruitment plan for ambulance drivers and paramedics to save lives

A poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed the shocking number of people who were forced to make their own way to hospital as a result of long ambulance waiting times.

The question was asked to those who say they have called 999 for an ambulance over the past twelve months for either themselves or family members.

A third (34%) of adults who say they have called for an ambulance in the last year for either themselves or a family member, say that they made their own way to hospital due to the lengthy waiting time.

This includes one in six (17%) who drove, one in ten (11%) who took a taxi, and even some (6%) who used public transport due to the wait for an ambulance being too long.

Just half (55%) of adults in the poll who called 999 to request an ambulance say that they waited for an ambulance, despite being in need of medical care.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an urgent five point plan to support ambulance services and to ease the pressure on hospitals. As part of this the party is calling for a long-term strategy to improve social care, expand hospital beds and put an end to ambulances waiting outside hospitals.

Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:

“These frightening figures reveal the horror of England’s ambulance crisis.

“Not only have ambulance services been left to pick up the slack of a broken health and care system, now people are being left to drive or even take a bus just to get to A&E because the ambulances themselves can’t get there in time.

"This is truly scandalous.

“The British public pay their fair share in tax to fund our NHS and at the very least they should be able to expect an ambulance to arrive in their hour of need. Conservative Ministers should apologise to every member of the public forced to make their own way to hospital because the ambulance simply couldn’t turn up in time.

“This is a life or death issue and the Government just doesn't seem to get it.

“Britain’s local health services have been underfunded and neglected for too long. We need a plan to fix health and social care, including recruiting more paramedics, before another health crisis causes more unnecessary deaths.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Methodology: Savanta interviewed 2,093 UK adults aged 18+ online between 24th and 26th March 2023. Data were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region and social grade. Full data spreadsheet here

Q1. In the last 12 months, have you called 999 and requested an ambulance to go to hospital for either yourself or a family member? Base: All respondents

Q2. Which of the following best describes how you or your family member got to the hospital? Base: All respondents who have requested an ambulance to go to hospital for either themselves or a family member in the last 12 months (381)

Ambulance Crisis - 5 Point Plan

Launch a campaign to retain, recruit and train paramedics and other ambulance service staff. Like all health and care services, it needs to be properly staffed.
Introduce a Carer’s Minimum wage at £2 above the current national wage. With thousands leaving the social care profession for better-paid work in supermarkets and hospitality, it is critical that carers are paid more to ensure good care can continue. This would increase capacity in the sector, freeing up beds in hospitals and allowing ambulances to hand over patients far quicker and more safely.

Increase the number of staffed beds in hospitals to end excessive handover delays for ambulances, caused by a lack of bed capacity. Any new beds must come with increases in staff to care for those extra patients.
Expand mental health support services to get people the appropriate care they need and reduce the number of call outs for ambulances for mental health reasons. Learning from hospitals that have set up ‘emergency mental health departments’, will not only get people more appropriate care but relieve pressure on A&Es and ambulances.
Pass Daisy Cooper MP’s Ambulance Waiting Times Bill into law that would require accessible, localised reports of ambulance response times to be published. This would ensure that ‘hot spots’ with some of the longest waiting times can be identified routinely. 12 hour waits at A&E should also be published from arrival at hospital rather than the ‘decision to admit’ as is current practice, so that the true scale of the problem is clear for all to see.