Uber ambulance: 2.7 million did not take an ambulance to A&E last year - up 340,000 on 2019

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

There were at least 2.7 million attendances at A&E where someone did not use an ambulance to get there, with over a quarter-of-a-million in need of very urgent medical attention opting not to use one, Liberal Democrat Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) have revealed.

It has led to the party saying that there is an “Uber ambulance crisis” and that the Government should create a new £50 million-a-year emergency fund to allow ambulance trusts to reverse closures of community ambulance stations, as well as launching a campaign to retain, recruit and train paramedics and other ambulance staff.

The FOIs found that the number of A&E attendances from not arriving in an ambulance had risen by 14% since 2019, from 2.36 million to 2.7 million. Only 30 of the 144 NHS Trusts responded with full data so these figures are likely to be far higher in reality.

The data also revealed the severity of injury of those attending, which is broken down into five codes. Code 1 is those in need of immediate medical attention including those in need of immediate resuscitation. There were 10,600 Code 1 incidents last year, up by 1,600 on 2023’s figure of 9,000. Code 2 represents those in need of very urgent medical attention. Across 2024 there were 256,000 attendances of this type with a massive spike of 55% on 2019’s figure of 165,000.

The Trust that saw the largest rise in non-ambulance A&E attendances was Sandwell and West Birmingham, where there was a 320% rise since 2019 with the figures jumping from 3,900 to 16,500 last year. Mid and South Essex has the highest number of attendances through not arriving in an ambulance with 322,000 last year, up on 2019’s figure of 263,000.

The Liberal Democrats also asked for figures that showed the number of these types of A&E attendances by those aged over 65. Last year, there were 459,000, up 22% on 2019’s 375,000 according to the 22 NHS Trusts which responded with full data. Of those 3,100 were considered Code 1, up 2,730 on 2023 with 53,600 considered Code 2 representing an 80% rise on 2019’s 29,700.

The steepest rise in over 65s non-ambulance attendances was in North Cumbria where they jumped 97% to 22,305. Mid and South Essex again had the highest number of these types of attendances with 52,400, up from 39,700 in 2019 - a rise of 32%.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

“These figures lay bare an Uber ambulance crisis, where people do not think they can rely on ambulance services even in the most serious of circumstances. This could have deadly consequences if people have lost faith that ambulances will be there when they need them.

“Years of Conservative neglect have brought us to this point and they should hang their heads in shame but the Labour government is failing to deliver the change that people are crying out for. We are still seeing people being treated in A&E corridors and ambulances queuing up outside, causing delays that people are rightfully terrified by.

“Everyone should call and wait for an ambulance if they need one, but we also have to also make sure they reach people on time so no one thinks they have to take themselves to A&E in a life and death situation. That means protecting local ambulance stations from closure and launching a campaign to retain, recruit and train paramedics and other ambulance staff.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The data from the FOIs can be found here.