This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
'Extremely concerning' 999 response figures revealed
New figures, released by the BBC, have revealed that four NHS trusts waited more than 24 hours to respond to 999 calls.
Between June 2017 and June 2018, ambulances from four services took 24 hours to reach patients who had made 999 calls, some for breathing and mental health problems.
Ambulance trusts and services tend to respond in order of priority, regulalrly aiming to respond to the most serious calls within eight minutes or less, as set out by national targets.
The data shows that the Welsh Ambulance Service recorded the longest delays, with four patients waiting more than 50 hours for an ambulance. The longest three calls were recorded within the 'amber category', the second most serious, for patients 'who may need treatment at the scene or tacking quickly to hospital'.
Stephen Clinton, assistant director of operations for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said that the figures represent the 'extreme end of the waiting time spectrum'.
The number of calls facing ambulance services has also increased by 15 per cent, increasing from 8,892,346 calls in 2015 to 10,242,507 in 2017, stretching resources and reaching a problematic state amid heightened winter pressures.
The Patients Association said that the finding were were 'extremely concerning'.
Lucy Watson said: "Everybody should be getting the services that they need. We know that demand has gone up on all health services as our population is getting older, and we need to see the level of investment increasing so our ambulances can respond in a timely way."
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