‘We are not coping’: Paramedics warn of deaths as hundreds of emergencies wait hours for help

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Internal data shared with The Independent shows that London Ambulance Service is holding hundreds of open 999 calls for hours at a time with the service’s boss acknowledging in an email to staff that the service is struggling to maintain standards. London Ambulance Service’s chief executive, Garrett Emmerson, sparked a backlash from hundreds of paramedics on Sunday when he suggested that the service was “coping” with the pressure caused by the spike in coronavirus cases. It is also a particularly distressing time for anyone directly involved in providing healthcare for our patients, as we struggle to maintain the quality of care and standards of service we aspire to in unprecedented circumstances.” He added: “I am under no illusions as to how incredibly difficult things are right now.” He said the ambulance service had overall maintained good responses to life-threatening calls but added: “Not surprisingly we are regularly holding large numbers of patients in our lower-category queues, whilst we prioritise our most urgent cases. The college is aware that in some ambulance trusts they are holding hundreds of calls waiting for an ambulance.” A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “Our frontline ambulance crews and call handlers are under enormous pressure trying to help unprecedented numbers of patients, working tirelessly in the most challenging of circumstances.