London Ambulance Service received a record number of 999 calls in December for patients with the most serious illnesses and injuries
Ambulances (credit London Ambulance Service)
Just under half of all ambulances arriving at North Middlesex University Hospital in Edmonton were forced to wait at least 30 minutes at the end of last month amid unprecedented demand.
London Ambulance Service (LAS) recorded more 999 calls in December for patients with the most serious illnesses and injuries than any other month in its history, it was revealed today (Thursday 9th), while demand for January so far is 20% higher than last year.
In total, last month saw the volume of 999 calls received by LAS at 92% of the level seen in its busiest-ever month, March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit its peak.
In the final week of the year, 48.2% of ambulances arriving at North Mid’s accident and emergency (A&E) department waited longer than 30 minutes to offload their patients, which was the 23rd-worst rate among England’s 124 acute hospital trusts.
This did, however, represent an improvement on the waiting times seen at a similar time in 2023, when North Mid ranked ninth-worst in England.
At the start of this year, North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust merged with Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
A Royal Free London spokesperson said: “Our hospitals are incredibly busy and we are seeing large numbers of patients attending our emergency departments. We would like to thank our staff who are working incredibly hard to ensure patients are seen and treated as quickly as possible. “We are working closely with London Ambulance Service to ensure handovers can take place as quickly as possible. “Unless it’s a serious or life-threatening emergency, please remember to contact your GP, call NHS 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk and you will be directed to the right place for your care.”
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of LAS, said: “This winter is proving to be extraordinarily challenging. However, I want to assure the public that despite significant increases in demand to levels last seen during the pandemic, we are doing all we can to care for London. We have redoubled our efforts on performance to ensure we reached our sickest patients and answered 999 calls more quickly this year than last year due to three changes.
“First, we put more staff in ambulances, cars and in our control rooms, then we increased the number of patients we treated over the phone to unprecedented levels and finally, we worked with 28 emergency departments in London to take patients to the hospitals with the shortest waits.
“Despite these improvements, we know our response times are not good enough and are very sorry some people waited too long for us to get to them. We will continue to work together with our partners around London to get the best possible care to patients over the winter months and improve our performance this year.”
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