47-minute average wait for ambulance
POSTCODE LOTTERY FOR 999 SERVICE AS NOTTS BUSTS TARGETS
HEART attack victims in part of Nottinghamshire are being left waiting for an ambulance for more than three quarters of an hour on average.
NHS statistics showed people in the Newark and Sherwood district were left waiting an average of nearly 47 minutes for category two calls – covering heart attacks and strokes. The NHS target is 18 minutes.
The 2021/22 data, released following a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal Democrats, showed a postcode lottery, with patients in some areas waiting three times as long.
Elsewhere in Nottinghamshire, the Bassetlaw Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area had an average wait of 44 minutes.
In Rushcliffe CCG it was 39 minutes, in Mansfield and Ashfield CCG it was 38 minutes, in Nottingham North and East CCG it was 36 minutes, in Nottingham West CCG it was 34 minutes, and in Nottingham City CCG it was just short of 34 minutes.
Amanda Sullivan, chief executive of NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said: “Health and social care partners in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are working together to mitigate winter pressures across the system.
“We have a robust winter plan in place to help alleviate these pressures, which includes providing more mental health crisis support (including a new acute mental health inpatient unit), opening up additional hospital bed capacity, introducing virtual wards which use technology to treat patients in their own homes, rolling out deep clean programmes to reduce healthcare associated infections, setting up three new discharge hubs to help speed up the discharge processes, social prescribing for high intensity service users and further investment in home care.
“We continue to ask the public to use our services wisely to ensure those patients with the greatest need can access care and support when they need it. If you are unsure where you should go, contact 111 first to make sure you are seen in the right place and by the right person.”
In the UK, Cornwall (one hour 41 minutes), Lincolnshire East (one hour 15 minutes), and South Gloucestershire (one hour 11 minutes) had the longest waits for an ambulance. Two areas did hit the target – Carlisle (17 minutes) and Croydon (just short of 13 minutes).