By Nick Triggle
Health correspondent
Ambulance crews are facing crippling delays erstwhile they get astatine A&E with sick patients, NHS bosses are warning.
Over the past week, astir 3 successful 10 ambulances were caught queuing extracurricular hospitals successful England.
It is the worst commencement to wintertime since records began - earlier the pandemic astir fractional the fig of delays were recorded, NHS England information shows.
Ambulance chiefs said the problems were starring to patients dying and being harmed connected a regular basis.
Martin Flaherty, managing manager of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), said: "These crippling delays are a duplicate menace - they origin important harm to patients who are forced to hold successful the backmost of our ambulances, portion our crews are stuck and truthful incapable to respond to patients who request america retired successful the community.
"As the colder wintertime upwind approaches we person superior concerns that things volition get worse successful the coming weeks and months.
"The life-saving information nett that NHS ambulance services supply is being severely compromised by these unnecessary delays, and patients are dying and coming to harm arsenic a effect connected a regular basis."
AACE said its ain investigation of the delays seen during October suggested astir 44,000 patients whitethorn person travel to harm due to the fact that of delays.
Ambulance crews are meant to beryllium capable to manus implicit their patients to infirmary unit wrong 15 minutes of arrival.
But successful 29% of the astir 80,000 arrivals seen successful the 7 days up to past Sunday, crews had to hold 30 minutes oregon more.
That compares to 23% past twelvemonth astatine the commencement of winter, and 15% successful 2019 earlier the pandemic began.
At astir a tenth of hospitals, much than fractional of ambulance crews arriving were delayed, the play study by NHS England - the archetypal of this wintertime - showed.
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