We mustn’t accept long ambulance delays and errors as the new normal in the NHS

Barely a week goes by without headlines about spiralling wait times for NHS ambulatory or emergency care. My father was one of those patients whose wait for an ambulance would be marked as a “missed target.” His experience, and mine in the aftermath of his death, are symptomatic of the wider problems afflicting our health and social care systems and the devastating impact they are having on patients, their families, and staff.I’ve written about the shortcomings—and successes—of the NHS and social care for decades as a health journalist. So, when my 94 year old father fell last year and waited six hours for an ambulance, I was unlikely to shrug my shoulders and say “these things happen.”Anyone with frail, older parents will know that gut wrenching feeling when someone calls to say your mother or father has had a fall. I pulled up outside my childhood home and found my…
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