London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Big rise in patients waiting in ambulances outside London hospitals

Big rise in patients waiting in ambulances outside London hospitals

Health leaders warn delays are having ‘huge impact’ on patients and staff morale

The number of patients waiting more than an hour inside an ambulance to be admitted to hospital in London has risen sharply, according to new figures, as NHS trusts grapple with record demand, strikes and a rise in flu cases.

The latest NHS England figures show that more than one in seven patients arriving in an ambulance (16.2 per cent) waited longer than 60 minutes to be handed over to hospital staff in the week up to December 18 - a rise of over 6 per cent in a month.

Nearly a third of ambulances (32.8 per cent) waited over 30 minutes to hand over a patient in the same period, a rise of 3 per cent on the week before.
The target is for handovers to be completed within 15 minutes. Ambulance chiefs have warned that handover delays are leading to patients dying.

Hospitals are struggling to discharge patients and free up capacity in A&E as many beds are occupied by patients in need of adult social care who have nowhere else to go.

Handover delays in London meant that a total of 3,269 ambulance hours were lost in the week up to December 18, contributing to delays in responding to urgent calls.

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is not currently publishing its response times as it says the introduction of its computer aided dispatch system has made its data “unreliable”.

However, figures leaked to the Health Service Journal earlier this month showed that Londoners waited an average of just under 2 hours for an ambulance following a Category 2 call, which includes strokes or chest pain. The target is around 18 minutes.

The data does not reflect the disruption caused by the paramedics’ strike, as this took place on December 21. Nurses working in emergency care did not participate in strike action that affected four London trusts on December 15.

Handover delays were particularly severe at Barts Health NHS Trust, the largest in the capital. More than four in ten ambulances faced a wait of more than 30 minutes on December 14, the figures showed.

In Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, over half of ambulances faced a wait of over 30 minutes (51 per cent) on December 18. A third waited more than an hour.


Ambulance workers on the picket line outside Waterloo ambulance station in London

Last week, Barts urged pregnant women who were expecting to give birth to make their own way to hospital ahead of the paramedics’ strike. It came after the LAS declared a “business continuity” incident and said Londoners without a life-threatening condition were unlikely to get an ambulance during the strike.

Striking paramedics have cited handover delays, alongside pay, as one of their main reasons for staging industrial action and say it is evidence that the system is collapsing under pressure.

Dr John Martin, chief paramedic at the LAS, said last week that London paramedics were spending entire shifts taking care of patients waiting to be discharged into A&E.

“Hospital handover delays are at the top of the list of issues for our members… they can spend a whole shift outside hospital waiting to hand over a patient. That has a huge impact on paramedics, families and the patients themselves,” he told the Health and Social Care Committee.

“We pride ourselves on having great paramedic education. It’s really frustrating when you can’t use that on patients on your shift.”

The South Western Ambulance Service on Thursday declared a critical incident due to “extreme pressures”.

As of 11.30am on Wednesday, 482 patients were waiting for ambulances across the South West, with 106 patients awaiting handover at hospitals in the region.

The incident follows the same declaration by North East Ambulance Service on Tuesday due to “unprecedented” pressure after the holidays.

Critical incident status means that ambulance trusts cannot provide usual critical services and patients may face harm.

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive at NHS Providers, urged the Government to talk to unions as “soon as possible” to avoid further strikes piling pressure on the NHS.

She said: “With ambulance handover delays having increased by a third in the last week, trust leaders are extremely worried as strike action threatens to aggravate an already deeply challenging situation."

Meanwhile, the Standard revealed last week that over a million Londoners were on a waiting list for treatment at the end of October.

More than 30,000 people were waiting longer than 52 weeks for treatment, the figures showed, while 2,025 were waiting longer than 78 weeks. However, the figures did show improvement in some areas with nearly two-thirds of patients (64.6 per cent) seen within 18 weeks, a rise of 0.8 per cent on the month before.

A spokesperson for the NHS in London said: “The NHS in London is experiencing record demand for urgent and emergency care, including an increase in flu and Covid hospitalisations, as is the case across the country.

“We have however, prepared for winter like never before with more beds, extra 111 call handlers, expanding the use of 24/7 control centres across the capital for urgent and emergency care and additional respiratory hubs, but with flu hospitalisations and Covid cases on the rise the best things you can do to protect yourself and others is to get vaccinated if you’re eligible.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×