Patient deaths in ambulances have doubled in four years

THE number of unexpected patient deaths while in the care of ambulance staff have doubled over four years, figures show.

According to freedom of information requests to NHS England, “serious incidents” resulting in the death of a patient more than doubled from 31 in 2012 to 72 in 2016.

In one case a patient died after an ambulance was diverted from one hospital to another at the last minute, while others were linked to long delays or missed diagnoses. Serious incidents are recorded when the consequences are so severe they require investigation.

The total number of serious incidents – involving deaths, but also low, moderate or serious harm or abuse to patients – also jumped in the period, from 194 to 376, the data obtained by The Guardian showed.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, called the news an “urgent wake-up call and said ambulance trusts were in “desperate need of more funds”.

Ian Lofthouse, the national ambulance officer at Unison, said ambulance demand was “running at twice the level of funding”.

“This is an unsustainable situation that places excessive pressure on paramedics, who are doing an incredible job treating people in the community and reducing the strain on A&E departments.”

However, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives said the incidents represented only a fraction of patient journeys. It instead blamed increasing demand, pointing out that ambulance calls had increased by an average of 5.3 per cent every year since 2011-12.

“The increase in serious untoward incidents reported can be attributed to the unabated increased demand for ambulance services and the success of ambulance services encouraging staff to report incidents that can be learned from,” a spokesman said.