Patients needing emergency care, including heart attack and stroke victims, waited on average 42 minutes and 26 seconds for ambulances last month, NHS figures show.
This was up from 42 minutes and 15 seconds in October and the worst monthly figure for 2024 so far. The target for those calls – category two – is 18 minutes.
Meanwhile, some 45,791 patients waited over 12 hours in A&E from a decision to admit to actually being given a hospital bed in a ward. That was down from 49,592 in October but more than the 38,880 in September.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting urged hospital bosses at a meeting this week to “put patients ahead of targets” in a bid to prevent patients dying on trollies in corridors.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has warned that addressing long A&E delays is “a matter of life and death”.
Dr Adrian Boyle, RCEM president, said emergency department waits of over 12 hours contributed to hundreds of avoidable deaths each week last winter.
He added: “We recommend that hospitals are performance-managed based on the proportion of patients waiting 12 hours or more from their time of arrival, alongside the four-hour target.
“Let us be clear on what we are aiming for – a reduction in avoidable deaths.
“This can only be achieved when there is the political will and support from those in power, as well as a functioning and appropriately resourced social care system.
“This is a matter of life and death, and action must fit the need.”
The RCEM also criticised Labour’s Plan for Change this week for failing to deliver a commitment to “resuscitate urgent and emergency care”.
Dr Boyle said the service “continues to be the canary in the healthcare coal mine” and described recent data as “deeply concerning”.
NHS England’s first week’s situation report for winter showed that flu cases were up 350% in the week to December 1 compared to the same time last year.
An average of more than 5,000 hours per day were lost due to ambulance handover delays, 87.2% higher than the same period last year.
Delayed discharges – often due to a lack of social care – are another ongoing problem, with around 12,000 patients remaining in hospital despite being fit for discharge.
