BHF comment
Ambulance waiting times for heart attacks and strokes on rise again
The region with the highest average ambulance response time for category 2 calls is the East Midlands, where the average time is 72 minutes.
All ambulance services in England and Wales are currently on the highest level of alert due to extreme pressure, reports said this week.
The NHSE figures also reveal that the number of people on cardiac waiting lists grew to a record 325,568 at the end of May in England, 6,202 more than the previous month, and the 23rd consecutive month where an increase has been seen.
Over 5,000 people had been waiting over a year as of May – 184 times higher than before the pandemic began when just 28 people were waiting this long. 67 people have been waiting over two years for heart care.
Nearly 30 per cent of people on waiting lists for potentially lifesaving heart care in England have been waiting over four months (18 weeks) – a total of 95,010 people. The longer people wait for treatment, the higher their risk of becoming disabled or dying prematurely.
Shocking statistics
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, our Associate Medical Director and Consultant Cardiologist, said: “Heart attacks and strokes are life-threatening emergencies, where every single minute matters."That’s why today’s statistics are so shocking - people will needlessly die or live with disability as a result of dangerous delays in getting time-sensitive heart treatment.
“NHS staff can’t do more than they are doing already, yet cardiovascular disease kills one in four in this country, and it’s certainly not going away.
"That’s why we urgently need a funded NHS workforce plan that ensures there are enough heart doctors, heart nurses and cardiac physiologists.”
READ ABOUT THE UNTOLD HEARTBREAK