It took ambulances about 15 years to wait for patients to be accepted into hospital during the first two weeks of winter, up from 10.5 years last year.
So-called “delays in delivery” are counted fifteen minutes before patients are admitted to the hospital.
In England, the number of delays of at least one hour has also increased dramatically. In winter 2023/24, there were 16,423.
This winter there are already 29,477, an increase of 79 percent. This means delivery delays of one hour or more now account for 16 percent of all deliveries, up from 9 percent last winter.
The average delivery delay time also increased significantly from 32 minutes to 44 minutes in the last two weeks, an increase of 37 percent.
In total, there have been 130,990 hours of delivery delays in the last two weeks, the equivalent of 15 years.
This is an increase from 91,645 hours in winter 2023/24, an increase of 43 per cent.
It took ambulances around 15 years to wait for patients to be admitted to hospital during the first two weeks of winter, compared to 10.5 years last year (file image)
Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan said: “This winter promises to be one of the most challenging on record.”
NHS England has said delivery delays are a risk to patients and also compromise care in the community by preventing ambulances from leaving hospital.
The Liberal Democrats, who analyzed official statistics, are asking the government to make this the last winter crisis that patients and health services face.
The party is calling for a £1.5bn set-aside fund to winterise the NHS, to build resilience in hospital wards, emergency departments, ambulance services and patient discharge.
Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: “This winter promises to be one of the most challenging on record.
NHS England has said delivery delays are a risk to patients and also compromise care in the community (file image)
“We’re not in the middle of winter yet, but we’re already seeing worrying trends that this year could be even worse than last, and we all know how hard it was.”
‘We cannot allow this situation to get worse. Failure to get ahead of this crisis could lead to hospitals being overwhelmed and patients suffering the consequences.
‘The government must present a plan to implement measures to address this alarming situation.
“They also need to put plans in place to protect the NHS from winter, so this is the last winter crisis the health service and patients face.”
Doctors have said they are facing a ‘quadraemia’ – with flu cases in hospital four times higher than last year and high levels of Covid, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), according to The times.
An NHS spokesperson said: “Winter is always the most difficult time of year for the NHS, and this year it comes after the busiest November ever for emergency staff and with more ambulance contacts than any other November.”
‘Priority in transfer to emergency teams is always given to the sickest patients.
“The flood of flu cases and other seasonal viruses hitting hospitals is really worrying for patients and the NHS – the latest figures add to our ‘quadraemia’ concerns.”