Data for December shows record numbers of people at harm from waiting outside A&E and missed 999 calls by ambulance crews
Record number of patients suffered severe harm last month because they spent so long in the back of ambulances waiting to get into A&E, new NHS figures reveal.
An estimated 57,000 people in England “experienced potential harm”, of whom 6,000 were exposed to “severe harm”, in December – both the largest numbers on record – because they had to wait at least an hour to be handed over to hospital staff, according to NHS ambulance service bosses.
Crews “lost” a total of 227,000 hours from being stuck outside A&E units, double the number recorded just a year earlier.
The average handover time has almost doubled in the last year from 29 to 55 minutes.
In December 140,000 hours were “lost” to delays lasting more than an hour.
Almost 1 in 4 (23%) of handovers now takes at least an hour.
