Stroke and heart attack sufferers have been left waiting over an hour in recent months for ambulances. As waits continue to stretch well beyond 999 response targets, patients tell painful stories of being stranded in agony, while paramedics say they are struggling to keep up with ever-soaring demand.
Over the last 12 months, North West Ambulance Service ( NWAS ) response times for ‘category two’ calls have consistently gone beyond the organisation’s own targets, reaching beyond an hour on multiple occasions. Category two calls are one-step down from category one calls, which are for people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries.
The figures come as the service is thrown into crisis amid the heatwave, now raised to its highest alert level - indicating ‘extreme pressure’. Bosses say they have seen a huge increase - 21 per cent - in the number of most urgent, life-threatening calls, compared to this time last month.
