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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Gregory Health editor

Ambulance handover delays in England may harm 1,000 patients a day

Ambulances lined up outside a hospital A&E
Ambulances spent more than 1.5m hours – equivalent to 187 years – stuck outside A&Es waiting to offload patients in the year to November 2024. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

More than 1,000 patients a day in England are suffering “potential harm” because of ambulance handover delays, the Guardian can reveal.

In the last year, 414,137 patients are believed to have experienced some level of harm because they spent so long in the back of ambulances waiting to get into hospital. Of those, 44,409 – more than 850 a week – suffered “severe potential harm”, with delays causing permanent or long-term harm or death.

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