Average wait time for ambulance in Northamptonshire reaches more than an hour and becomes one of the worst in the country

According to NHS England data, referring to the month of December 2024, the average category 2 wait time in the county was one hour and 41 minutes, which was the worst in the country by 27 minutes, with Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as the next highest response time. Category 2 calls are categorised as for ‘emergency calls, such as stroke patients’. It is the second highest category.

For data referring to January this year, which was published this week, the average wait time in Northamptonshire improved slightly and sat at one hour and eight minutes. This was the second worst in the country with only Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly higher at one hour and 12 minutes. No other county had an average response time of more than an hour for the month of January.

According to the NHS data pack, since October 2024, Northamptonshire’s average response time has remained above an hour, every month.

In response, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) has said it is “deploying the highest number of ambulances it ever has”. In January board paper from EMAS, it also said the “primary driver of non-achievement continues to be predominantly hours lost to hospital handovers”.

According to the board papers, in November 2024, EMAS lost 22,428 lost operational hours to hospital handover delays across the region, which the ambulance provider says was 12,801 hours more than the agreed regional improvement trajectories.

In December 2024, EMAS lost 25,000 clinical hours to handover delays, of which 6,111 occurred in Northamptonshire hospitals. The average wait time per patient in Northamptonshire was one hour and 24 minutes, which was the worst in the EMAS area. However, in January 2025 this improved to an average of 54 minutes.

The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) group says there are a number of factors constraining their ability to deliver faster handover times, including “aging” emergency departments, which are “no longer large enough”, as well as lack of space. Bosses say they are “committed to improve”.

The county’s Integrated Care Board (ICB) adds that it continues to see “significant pressures on all services, particularly our hospitals and ambulances”, but that it is working to manage this.

Healthcare providers’ responses in full

Michael Jones, Divisional Director for Northamptonshire at EMAS said: “Together with partners across the urgent and emergency health sector we are responding to significant demand and pressures. Currently at EMAS every day we are deploying our highest number of ambulance resources than we ever have before.

“We are working with our partners to ensure patients on ambulances are taken into the care of hospitals as soon as possible, so we can respond to patients waiting for our help in the community. Where possible, we’re making use of alternative healthcare services for patients’ needs rather than taking them to a busy A&E.

“We continue to work with our partners and escalate information about the challenges we face.”

Chief Operating Officer for the UHN, Sarah Noonan, added: “We are aware of, and committed to improve, the ambulance handover times to our extremely busy emergency departments which together see about 720 patients each day of which about 170 arrive by ambulance.

“We are constrained by several factors in delivering faster handover times. Firstly our aging emergency departments in both trusts are no longer large enough to support the high level of demand they see each year which is growing every year in line with Northamptonshire’s rising population (one of the fastest growing populations in England.)

“Lack of space in our departments means we cannot offload ambulances promptly as it would be unsafe. In addition flow into hospital is restricted because our beds have a very high level of occupancy and our discharge flow into the community is restricted and we are working with our partners to address this.

“In December average handover times for UHN was 1hr 24mins, in January this has improved to 54mins, with a commitment towards reducing delays further. However during the Winter especially the scale of demand for our services affect our performance.”

Dr Janine Elson Chief Medical Officer, Northamptonshire ICB continued: “Over the winter period there has been huge demand on NHS services across Northamptonshire.

“The local NHS is working together to manage this, but we are continuing to see significant pressures on all services, particularly our hospitals and ambulances.”

Northamptonshire ICB is also asking residents to help by accessing the right NHS case, by calling 111 for urgent health advice and 999 in emergencies.

Find the NHS England data here and the EMAS board papers here.