Horrible truth about the NHS’s ailing ambulances: Up to one in four vehicles is broken down and a third of call handler posts are empty in parts of the country, research shows

More than one in four ambulances can no longer be used in some places due to maintenance or reliability problems, research shows.

Crews are warning patients are having to wait too long for emergency rooms as trusts struggle with crippling shortages of staff and vehicles.

Only 78 per cent of ambulances nationwide are operational on any given day – at South Central Ambulance Trust this has fallen to just 72 per cent.

Meanwhile, in Britain, one in 10 call handler positions are vacant, meaning the public is facing delays in applying for help.

In the worst-hit ambulance services, up to 39 percent of the 111 call-handling stations and 29 percent of the 999 call-handling stations are unoccupied.

The GMB union said the figures, obtained under freedom of information laws, show that urgent action is needed if the NHS is to meet critical performance targets.

Paramedics must arrive within 18 minutes for category two calls, including potential victims of a heart attack or stroke.

But the average in March, the last available month, was 33 minutes and 50 seconds, with one in 10 waiting more than 1 hour and 11 minutes.

For life-threatening Category 1 calls, where a patient’s heart has stopped or is not breathing, the target is 7 minutes, but the average was 8 minutes and 20 seconds, with one in ten waiting at least 14 minutes and 48 seconds – more than twice as long as it should.

Ambulance crews took an average of 5 seconds to answer 999 calls in March, but one in 100 callers had to wait 76 seconds or more.

And callers to 111 had to wait an average of 3 minutes and 16 seconds, with one in ten leaving the call before it was answered.

Rachel Harrison, national secretary of the GMB, said: “These figures once again expose the terrible state our NHS is in.

‘With hundreds of vacant posts and vehicles out of service, it is no wonder why delays are so severe.

‘Trusts cannot recruit or retain the staff they need, while employees tell us that high pressure, low pay, hearing damage and abuse are the reasons staff leave early.

‘We need action on shockingly low wages and unacceptable working conditions when services meet the standards patients need.

‘These statistics also highlight the hypocrisy of the government’s minimum service levels legislation – trusts clearly cannot manage 80 per cent service levels on a normal day.’

A daily snapshot of data from four ambulance trusts in England shows they had 1,333 ambulances in their fleet, but only 1,034 (77.6 percent) operational, meaning 299 were unavailable for patient use.

Others will have been waiting outside hospitals to hand patients to emergency doctors, meaning they were also unable to respond to new calls.

Meanwhile, responses from eleven UK ambulance services show that the NHS employs 7,914 call handlers and dispatchers, but there are 772 vacancies for these posts.

East of England Ambulance Service says it has a vacancy rate of 29.2 per cent for 999 call handlers, while South Central says 38.6 per cent of its 111 call handlers are unfilled.

Ambulance trusts have warned in board minutes that vacancies and fleet problems are hampering performance and putting patient safety at risk.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service said in February: ‘Call response targets are not being consistently achieved due to recruitment issues, high staff turnover and low call performance.

‘This results in risks to patient safety, clinical effectiveness, patient experience, colleague experience and Trust reputation.’

The North East Ambulance Service warned in November: ‘Vehicle availability and station capacity may limit improvements in response time in both the short and medium term.’

And the South East Coast Ambulance Service also said in February that a quarter of its double-crew ambulances were older than their intended service life and that “high vacancies within the vehicle maintenance technician team are impacting the capacity we have to address issues in our to tackle workshops.’

Some trusts have delayed the arrival of new vehicles after Bolton-based ambulance manufacturer VCS went into administration last year.

South West Ambulance Trust said in November that ‘only 13 of 101 vehicles’ had been delivered due to the company’s collapse and warned it may have to write off £2.5 million in advance payments.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘The latest NHS data shows that 999 calls are being answered faster – with an average wait time of just five seconds – and we have 50 per cent more ambulance staff compared to 2010.

‘We are also putting 800 new ambulances on the road, having invested £200 million last year to expand services and reduce response times.’

An NHS England spokesperson said: ‘Ambulance Trusts in England are working hard to retain existing talent and attract new talent, while the NHS Long Term Workforce reaffirms our commitment to improving the working experience of staff.

‘NHS Ambulance Trusts also take the safety of their ambulances very seriously and have a regular service and maintenance programme.’