Britain is in an ‘Uber-ambulance crisis’ as new figures reveal half a million ‘urgent’ patients were forced to make their own way to A&E last year

The number of patients making their own way to A&E in need of ‘very urgent’ care has soared.

At least 504,276 such patients arrived at casualty wards last year on foot or by private or public transport amid the ‘shocking’ crisis in ambulance response times.

The figure was 11,500 (2.4 per cent) up on 2022 and 141,000 (38.9 per cent) higher than 2019, according to data released under Freedom of Information laws. The rise was particularly sharp in those aged 65 and over, up 45.4 per cent since 2019 to 96,000 last year.

Ambulance services have repeatedly failed to meet response targets, with heart attack and stroke patients among those waiting too long for paramedics to arrive.

In York and Scarborough, 7,669 ‘code 2’ patients – in need of ‘very urgent emergency care’ – arrived at A&E not in an ambulance last year, up from 808 in 2019. Hull reported a 514 per cent rise from 196 to 1,203, while numbers for Hillingdon, west London, almost doubled to 16,699.

Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dems’ health and social care spokesman, accused the Tories of creating an ‘Uber-ambulance crisis’

Only 53 of 140 NHS trusts responded with complete data to the request by the Liberal Democrats, meaning the true number affected is likely to be far higher.

Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dems’ health and social care spokesman, accused the Tories of creating an ‘Uber-ambulance crisis’. She said ‘more and more people in need of urgent care are making their own way to A&E rather than risking agonising waits’, adding: ‘Behind each one of these statistics is someone in pain and anxious they won’t get the care they need in time.

‘We urgently need investment in our emergency services and more beds in our hospitals, so that patients in urgent need know that an ambulance will arrive in time.’

Paramedics should arrive at the scene of ‘category two’ calls, including potential heart attack and stroke victims, within 18 minutes.

But the average in March was 33 minutes 50 seconds, with one in ten waiting well over an hour. For ‘category one’ calls, where a patient’s heart has stopped or they are not breathing, the target is seven minutes but the average was eight minutes 20 seconds, with one in ten waiting almost 15 minutes.

Rory Deighton, director of the NHS Confederation’s acute network, described the figures as ‘worrying’ and said long response times must not become ‘the new normal’.

At least 504,276 such patients arrived at casualty wards last year on foot or by private or public transport amid the ‘shocking’ crisis in ambulance response times

Saffron Cordery at NHS Providers, which represents trusts, said demand on ambulance services is ‘through the roof’, but trusts and staff ‘continue to work flat out’.

The Department of Health said there are ’50 per cent more ambulance staff than in 2010′ and average waits for category two cases are ‘more than 13 minutes faster in 2023/24 than the previous year’.

But Dr Adrian Boyle, of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the statistics were ‘shocking’.

He added: ‘It is deeply concerning that people have lost faith in the system and are choosing to drive… to hospital out of desperation.’