Patient's 24 hour wait for Peterborough's ambulance service - the longest wait in England

The East of England Ambulance Service took 24 hours and 54 minutes to make it to a patient, the longest wait for an ambulance in the whole of England between June 2017 and June 2018 according to new figures obtained by the BBC.

The Peterborough Telegraph asked the ambulance service: can you specify why the wait was so long, which part of the county the patient was in and what problems they were suffering with?

However, a spokesman said they did not have the details to answer the questions.

He added: “With a growing volume of 999 calls for conditions not deemed life-threatening or urgent, and a need to focus on our sickest patients first, less life-threatening calls do wait during exceptionally busy periods.

“There were more 999 calls than there were ambulances, so our sickest patients had to be prioritised first.

“We continue to check in on these patients where appropriate, including suggesting alternative appropriate options such as 111.

“An independent service review confirmed there was a gap between demand and available capacity. New investment will mean more recruits and ambulances will, over time, support response improvements.”

Labour East of England MEP Alex Mayer said new figures also show that the ambulance services missed the seven minute response time for the most urgent cases from March to July this year.

She added: “This is no reflection on our hard-working ambulance staff. These professionals need to be given the tools to do their lifesaving jobs.

“I’m worried if our ambulance service is missing targets in the summer and the possible problems that could occur if there is another winter crisis.

“The Government needs to better resource the whole NHS.”

The Welsh Ambulance Service took 62 hours three minutes to reach a patient, according to the BBC.