Coroner issues warning over year-round ambulance delays in England

Richard Carpenter, 71, who waited 5hr 34min even though he had just had major heart surgery and the target for reaching him was 18 minutes. Photograph: family handout

A senior coroner has issued an official warning about the “significant disruption” being caused to ambulance services as vehicles wait for hours to transfer patients into hospital, highlighting that the problem now happens all year round rather than only in winter.

David Ridley, the senior coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, has written to the UK health secretary, Victoria Atkins, spelling out that delays in England are being caused because of a lack of community care packages for hospital patients well enough to be discharged.