MP fears for patients with heart issues
HEART attack patients facing waits of 48 minutes for an ambulance in Cheshire is due to an NHS funding crisis, east Runcorn MP Mike Amesbury has said.
The Labour MP for Weaver Vale warned that the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) is missing response targets by a “country mile” after obtaining figures showing the strain in the system.
Among the findings were heart attack and stroke patients waiting 47 minutes and 39 seconds on average for an ambulance to arrive.
Mr Amesbury said these “category two” emergency calls, which also include major burns and sepsis should have a response in 18 minutes on average.
He said the figures showed category one callouts for life-threatening injuries and illnesses took eight minutes and 42 seconds on average, against the target of seven minutes on average.
Mr Amesbury highlighted the figures during a parliamentary debate about emergency care waiting times as he blamed Government underfunding of the NHS for the “crisis”.
He said: “It’s so obvious that it shouldn’t need pointing out, but when it comes to strokes and heart attacks, every minute counts.
“The difference between 18 minutes and 48 minutes absolutely can mean the difference between life and death.
“For the most serious cases, where there is an imminent risk to life, average response times were almost two minutes over the target.”
The MP added: “We have an NHS and a care system both cut back to the bone, that’s left, in particular, elderly and disabled people going without the care they need.
“NHS founder Nye Bevan will be turning in his grave at this crisis.
“A crisis that’s perhaps most apparent when we look at emergency care provision.
“Like the rest of country, the North West Ambulance Trust is missing ambulance response targets by a country mile.”
A spokesman for Mr Amesbury’s office said that under NHS England standards, category three urgent calls should see a crew arrive within two hours in 90% of cases, but the average response time was almost three hours at two hours and 53 minutes.