NHS care delays in England harmed 8,000 people and caused 112 deaths last year

Ambulances outside the Royal London hospital in London. The Patients Association described ‘a disaster unfolding across the NHS’. Photograph: James Manning/PA

Almost 8,000 people were harmed and 112 died last year as a direct result of enduring long waits for an ambulance or surgery, prompting warnings that NHS care delays are “a disaster”.

The fatalities included a man who died of a cardiac arrest after waiting 18 minutes for his 999 call to be answered by the ambulance service and was dead by the time the crew arrived.