Heart attack and stroke patients are told to ‘get yourself to A&E’ after calling 999 amid rising demand for ambulances
People who dial 999 because they are having a heart attack or stroke are being asked to make their own way to hospital amid rising demand.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service, which said last week that it was under ‘severe pressure’, confirmed a change to the script used by its 999 call handlers to suggest patients get themselves to hospital at peak times.
A leaked staff memo sent on November 29 said the change was needed due to patients’ long waits.
It said category three and four 999 calls patients with urgent abdominal pain or who have fallen or are vomiting will be told: ‘The ambulance service is under significant pressure and we don’t have an ambulance available to respond to you. It may be a number of hours before one is available.
‘Is there any way you can arrange to safely make your own way to a hospital emergency department?’
The memo, seen by the Sunday Times, says that when the ambulance service is under the highest pressure, as it was last week, the request will also apply to category two calls.
These are patients who may be having a stroke or heart attack or have suffered serious burns and who should be seen within 18 minutes.
All ambulance services have adjusted their scripts for periods of surging demand, with some replicating the West Midlands message while others warn of the long waits patients will face.
An ambulance trust has confirmed its 999 call handlers have been told to tell patients to get themselves to A&E at peak times (file photo)
A leaked staff memo confirmed that the change was made due to patients’ long waits for ambulances (file photo)
Six out of ten ambulance services in England were at their highest level of alert last week.
This means they were facing ‘extreme pressure’ with a risk of ‘service failure’. The remaining four were all at ‘severe pressure’.
Across the Midlands last week, some patients who should have been seen within 18 minutes were waiting almost an hour on average.
At one point there were 150 emergency calls in the region without an ambulance available.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service said: ‘When ambulances are delayed handing their patient over at hospital, they are unable to respond to the next call.
‘There is a direct correlation between hospital handover delays and our ability to get to patients in the community quickly.’
There have been repeated warnings about the collapse in NHS emergency care since the end of Covid. Thousands are harmed by long ambulance waits.
Coroners have sent 33 warnings to ambulance trusts following deaths linked to delays (file photo)
This year coroners have sent 33 warnings to ambulance trusts after deaths linked to delays.
One patient affected by the crisis was 93-year-old Pat, a former police typist who fell at a care home near Market Harborough, Leicestershire, at 2am on Tuesday.
She lay on the floor until an ambulance crew took her to hospital at 5.45pm. Her daughter said: ‘She couldn’t communicate and was hardly moving. She was crying out as well.’
Even after she arrived at Kettering General Hospital, Pat, who has dementia, faced another hour-and-a-half wait to get into A&E. She has had surgery on a broken hip.
