Ambulance Waiting Times Shock
Paul McLaughlin
The wait for an ambulance in Hastings and Rye is the longest of any constituency in the whole of the South East, according to data obtained using a freedom of information (FOI) request. The figures, obtained by Labour’s Helena Dollimore, reveal that patients have been forced to wait an average of 37 minutes for an ambulance for category 2 call-outs, which include cases of suspected heart attacks and strokes. This is more than double the NHS target of 18 minutes, and significantly worse than nearby Eastbourne (30 minutes), Brighton (27 minutes) and Ashford (25 minutes).
The problem is most acute in Winchelsea, where the response time for suspected heart attacks and strokes is 45 minutes, and in Rye where it takes 42 minutes. The average response time for patients in Hastings, which is the best performing part of the constituency, is still more than 10 minutes longer than the NHS target.
Hastings and Rye was also the second worst-performing area in the South East for category 1 calls, which include the most life-threatening injuries and illnesses. The data shows that the constituency performed worse than Eastbourne, Brighton, Ashford, and Tunbridge Wells areas. The average response time of nine minutes is two minutes longer than the NHS target.
In July, the average response time for category 2 call-outs across the South East Coast was half an hour, while more than 3,000 patients with conditions like suspected heart attacks or strokes had to wait more than an hour for an ambulance.
These statistics from the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust were obtained by the Labour Party and were published by the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, who was on a visit to the Hastings Ambulance Depot in Bohemia Road last week.
Speaking exclusively with the Hastings Independent Press, Mr Streeting said the fundamental challenge facing the NHS was one of staff shortages. He said Labour was “committed to the biggest expansion of the NHS in its history”. Ambulance services and hospitals across the South East are struggling with demand and staff shortages, with currently 1,500 doctor vacancies and 6,500 nursing vacancies in the South East region alone. More staff are desperately needed to ensure we have a National Health Service that meets the needs of the population. We need more GPs, more nurses and more ambulance staff”.
The Shadow Secretary of State went on to outline how Labour would bring in reforms, such as introducing counsellors into every secondary school and new Community Mental Health Hubs. These new services, he declared, will mean patients will be seen faster and they would relieve pressure on some of the overstretched services, be it in general practice, A&E departments or within the ambulance service.
He said it makes his “blood boil” that after 13 years of Tory government, the UK has the largest waiting list and the lowest patient satisfaction levels in the history of the NHS, compared to the shortest waiting times and highest satisfaction levels when Labour left office in 2010.
When questioned about how the country could afford the extra investment, Mr Streeting said Labour’s plans were “fully costed and fully funded”. They would see “£1.6 billion going into the NHS through the abolition of the non-dom tax status and abolishing the tax loophole enjoyed by private equity fund managers.” He did admit that Labour would look to “those who can afford to pay more taxes and not to those who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.”
He insisted that reform is also important, and that the extra money would be used to try to shift services away from hospitals and back to communities. One of the problems of the current mismanagement of the NHS, he said, was that patients often cannot access a GP and are therefore forced to go to A&E. The cost of seeing a GP is £40, whilst an A&E visit typically costs £360, so by shifting the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and back into communities he said there were “savings to be made with better results for patients.”
The message of the last Labour government, he said, was that “investment and reform will deliver results. We will use spare capacity in the private sector to bring down waiting lists faster. It is about fairness. Why should the poorest have to wait for treatment whilst those who can pay beat the queues by going private? Working class people should not be left behind. Privatisation of the NHS is not the answer. Nor is a social insurance system. The NHS should always be a service free at the point of use, and Labour will safeguard that for future generations.”
He concluded by saying, “People across Hastings and Rye and the villages in between have been badly let down by 13 years of Conservative government.” He said “voters here have a powerful vote because the constituency will decide who is in power after the next general election. A vote for Labour will not only give Britain the change that is needed, but it will also mean the community gets a local champion in Helena Dollimore – one of the best parliamentary candidates in the entire country, who will fight tooth and nail for her community. She will get their voice heard in Parliament and heard within the new Labour government.”
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