Patients had two-day wait for ambulance

SOME patients in Wales were forced to wait more than two days for ambulances to respond to 999 calls, figures have shown.

Four people were picked up after 50 hours but in the longest delay, one patient had to wait 62 hours, according to data obtained by the BBC.

The Welsh Ambulance Service, which had the longest delays of any NHS trust across the UK, acknowledged how “distressing” any wait for assistance can be but insisted the whole NHS system faced “challenges” over the winter.

“This is a case of the data not telling the full story,” a spokesman for the service added. The Patients Association has called the delays “extremely concerning” as it emerged that three other NHS trusts in England recorded waits of more than 24 hours. The figures, covering the year to June 2018, show that some of those patients were suffering from breathing and mental health problems.

However, the trusts said the longest delays were for “less serious calls” that were bumped back due to ambulances responding to more urgent cases.

Figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request show the number of calls to ambulance services rose by 15 per cent between 2015 and 2017.