BHF comment
BHF responds to NHS England plan to recover urgent and emergency care services
We have today responded to a plan from NHS England and Government to reduce ambulance and A&E waiting times, prevent more hospital admissions, and help urgent and emergency healthcare services recover from pandemic disruption.
The two-year recovery plan outlines how an extra 800 new ambulances and 5,000 more hospital beds will be funded through a £1 billion dedicated fund.
Urgent care will be expanded, with services running for at least 12 hours a day to ensure people who can be treated at home get the care they need without a hospital admission.
Measures like this could help get ambulances to life-threatening emergencies more quickly, like heart attacks, strokes and cardiac arrests.
Freeing up space in hospitals and speeding up discharge for those who are medically fit to leave are key parts of the new blueprint.
We believe the plan is a vital first step to reducing dangerous waiting times for patients with suspected heart attacks and strokes, but Government must press ahead with addressing severe NHS staff shortages as a priority to ensure the plan’s success.
Latest figures show that average ambulance response times are over 90 minutes in England for category 2 calls, which includes heart attacks and strokes. The target response time for these calls before the pandemic was 18 minutes.
One of the key ambitions of the plan published today is that ambulance response times should reduce to an average of 30 minutes for category 2 calls in 2023 and 2024, with improved targets for the following year.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, our Chief Executive, said: “Every minute counts when someone has a heart attack or stroke, and tragically we are seeing unacceptable ambulance and A&E delays leaving seriously ill patients worse off and even costing lives, despite the extraordinary efforts of NHS staff to meet demand.
“This plan is an important and much needed step which promises to turn the tide on the emergency care crisis.
“Prioritising practical solutions to ensure that people can get getting life-saving care when they need it is the right thing to do. Government must now ensure there are enough doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff in place to make this plan work.”