Ambulance wait figures outside hospitals in England highest for five years

More than 150,000 people have waited in an ambulance for at least half an hour to be admitted to hospital in England this winter to date, higher than at any time in the past five years.

NHS England figures published on Wednesday show that one-in five patients have waited 30 minutes or more in ambulances before being admitted in the first nine weeks of winter.

The absolute figure – 151,798 – exceeds the highest levels in recent years – 133,000 at the same stage of winter 2019-20 – by 14%.

The number of ambulances waiting 60 minutes in the winter to date now stands at 60,687, up 82% on the past two winters and by far the highest figure in the past five years for which data is available.

The proportion of people waiting is also higher than in previous winters: whereas between 3% and 4% of patients waited an hour or more in the previous four winters, that figure stands at 8% this winter to date, or one in every 12.

Separate NHS figures showed that staff absences were down slightly compared to the previous week, but remained high, with 70,000 workers off sick across England on an average day. The number of NHS staff off due to Covid reasons also dipped slightly to about 26,000, representing more than a third of total absences.

NHS England’s national medical director, Prof Stephen Powis, said: “We still had around 70,000 NHS staff off sick each day last week, as the number of ambulances taking patients to A&E was up again on the previous seven days, making it the busiest week since the start of December.

“Despite this, hard-working staff are doing everything possible to get people home to their loved ones and out of hospital safely, as hundreds more beds were freed up each day compared to the week before – all while delivering as many routine checks and procedures as possible, including vital diagnostic checks, as staff continue to make inroads delivering treatments disrupted by Covid.”