'If you collapse on the way call 999 again': The emergency patients left waiting in agony for ambulances
17.07.2022 - 19:11
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Stroke and heart attack sufferers have been left waiting over an hour in recent months for ambulances. As waits continue to stretch well beyond 999 response targets, patients tell painful stories of being stranded in agony, while paramedics say they are struggling to keep up with ever-soaring demand.
Over the last 12 months, North West Ambulance Service ( NWAS ) response times for ‘category two’ calls have consistently gone beyond the organisation’s own targets, reaching beyond an hour on multiple occasions. Category two calls are one-step down from category one calls, which are for people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries.
The figures come as the service is thrown into crisis amid the heatwave, now raised to its highest alert level - indicating ‘extreme pressure’. Bosses say they have seen a huge increase - 21 per cent - in the number of most urgent, life-threatening calls, compared to this time last month.
READ MORE:Ambulances queuing and 'extremely busy' on highest possible alert: Pressure heats up on Greater Manchester's NHS
999 reports classed as category two - including stroke symptoms and chest pains - are described by NWAS as 'emergency calls', and should be responded to in an average time of 18 minutes, their website says.
But the reality is quite different, patients and paramedics alike say. Patients claim they have been ‘frightened’ to learn that there are ‘no ambulances available’ while they are suffering from strokes, serious falls and badly broken bones. Paramedics, too, share frustrations that they simply cannot reach everyone when demand on the service is at ‘New Year’s Eve’ levels on a daily basis.
In July 2021, North West Ambulance Service’s average response time for a category two call was