Uber Ambulance: Thousands in need of urgent care making their own way to A&E

1 May 2024

EMBARGO: 22.30 Tuesday 30th April

Patients in need of “very urgent emergency care” making their own way to A&E increased by nearly 40% since 2019
The number of elderly patients in need of emergency care going to A&E not in an ambulance has shot up by more than 20%
The Liberal Democrats warn Conservative government is creating an “Uber ambulance crisis”

There has been a near 40% increase in the number of patients in need of “very urgent emergency care” making their own way to A&E over the past five years, Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) by the LiberalDemocrats have revealed.

NHS Trusts were asked for the number of patients who arrived at their A&E departments not in an ambulance, broken down by the urgency and severity of their condition.

504,276 patients classed as Code 2, meaning they were deemed to be in need of “very urgent emergency care”, arrived at A&E not in an ambulance in 2023. This was up 11,500 (2.4%) compared to the previous year, and up 141,000 (38.9%) compared to 2019.

The Liberal Democrats warned the Conservative government is creating an “Uber ambulance crisis” and called on ministers to urgently invest in ambulance services, staffed hospital beds and social care to reduce delays.

The figures also show there has been a particularly sharp rise in elderly patients making their own way to A&E despite needing urgent care. 96,000 patients aged over 65 in need of “very urgent emergency care” made their own way to A&E last year, up 45.4% since 2019.

53 of 140 NHS Trusts responded with complete data meaning the true numbers of patients needing urgent care making their own way to A&E is likely to be far higher.

Some Trusts saw staggering rises in the number of patients arriving in A&E not in an ambulance with very urgent emergency care needs. In York and Scarborough there was a more than eight-fold rise in Code 2 patients coming to A&E not in an ambulance with the figure last year reaching 7,669, up from just 808 in 2019.

In Hull there was a 514% increase to 1,203 Code 2 patients making their own way to hospital, up from just 196 in 2019. At Hillingdon 16,699 Code 2 patients made their own way to hospital last year, up by 8,739 on 2019, a 109.8% increase.

Previous research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that ambulance response time targets for Category 2 emergencies, which include potential heart attack and stroke victims, were missed last year in every local area in England but one.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP said:

“This Conservative government has created an ‘Uber-ambulance’ crisis. With ambulance response times soaring, more and more people in need of urgent care are making their own way to A&E rather than risking agonising waits.

“Behind each one of these statistics is someone in pain and anxious that they won’t get the care they need in time.

“We urgently need investment in our emergency services and more beds in our hospitals, so that patients in urgent need know that an ambulance will arrive in time.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The FOI data can be found here.

Previous Liberal Democrat research on ambulance response times can be found here.

The Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS) is the national data set for urgent and emergency care and provides information on the urgency and severity of the condition which the patient has presented to an emergency care facility. The acuity of the injury is measured between 1 and 5, with 1 being the most serious and time sensitive and 5 the least.

Text of FOI questions:

The number of patients, broken down by ECDS coding:

1) Immediate emergency care,

2) Very urgent emergency care,

3) Urgent emergency care

4) Standard emergency care

5) Low acuity emergency care),

Who arrived at your Trusts A&E not in an ambulance in each of the calendar years broken down by total number, and the number of those 65 and over

a) 2023,

b) 2022,

c) 2021,

d) 2020,