January 13, 2009

Emergency ambulance took four hours

When we call 999 for an ambulance, we expect it to arrive within a few minutes, not a few hours. However, the later is becoming normality in some areas as a recent report has found.

One patient who had been poisoned had to wait three hours and forty seven minutes for the ambulance to arrive, while another patient suffering from breathing conditions have had to wait for up to two hours for help to arrive,

The government rules state that a serious category A patient should be seen within eight minutes, this target had been achieved seventy per cent of the time, but there is no maximum waiting time, which means some patients can be waiting hours before help arrives.

The worst area is Wales with three hours and forty seven minutes, while the best place t call for an ambulance is the Isle of Wight with a waiting time of twenty one minutes.

Source [Daily Mail]