Average ambulance waits for heart attacks and strokes highest since last December in England

Average ambulance response times for category 2 calls - which includes suspected heart attacks and strokes - rose to over 42 minutes in October in England.

Average ambulance waits rose in October from 38 minutes in September, latest NHS figures show. 

Average ambulance waits for category 2 calls are now at their highest since December 2022 when they reached 93 minutes. They fell to 32 minutes in January 2023.

The official target for responding to category 2 calls is 18 minutes, but the Government has set a new average target of 30 minutes over 2023/24. This target has been met in just one month since January 2023, when the target was set.

The statistics published this morning also show:

• The number of people on cardiac waiting lists has risen to a record high of 409,541 at the end of September 2023 in England – an increase of 2,898 on the previous month. 
• There has been a 76 per cent rise in people waiting for cardiac care since February 2020. This is an increase of 176,000 people – enough to fill Wembley stadium twice over.
• There was a further rise in the number of people who were waiting over four months (the maximum intended waiting time target) for potentially lifesaving heart care at the end of September – 163,919 compared with 159,996 at the end of August. Well over a third (40%) of all people on waiting lists for cardiac care are waiting over 18 weeks for care. 
• The longer people wait for treatment, the higher their risk of becoming disabled from heart failure or dying prematurely. 
• The number of people waiting over a year for time-critical heart tests and treatments fell to 13,223 from 13,479 in August. Just 28 people were waiting this long in February 2020.   

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, our Associate Medical Director, said: “Heart care can’t wait – yet waiting lists for heart diagnosis and treatment continue to be at crisis levels and people are facing dangerous waits even for emergency heart attack and stroke care.

"Such long delays at any stage of someone's heart care risk preventable complications, including heart failure, or even premature death.

“Recruiting and retaining more specialist cardiovascular staff could help the NHS get a grip on the ever-growing waiting lists and prevent a heartbreaking rise in avoidable disability and death.

"The Government's re-commitment to long-term workforce planning in this week’s King’s Speech is welcome, but this needs to be accompanied by long-term investment and prioritisation of heart patients who need time-critical care in fit-for-purpose facilities.”