COUNCILLORS in Gloucestershire are calling for more urgent action from the government to help get people out of hospital quicker in order to reduce ambulance waiting times.

The Liberal Democrat group in the county has described ambulance and A&E waiting times figures for December as “alarming” and revealing of the extent of the NHS crisis in Gloucestershire.

The figures show that in Gloucestershire, 1163 people waited over 4 hours to be seen in December, while 781 people waited for more than 12 hours.

Meanwhile, in the whole of the South West, the average ambulance response time for the most urgent incidents was 13 minutes, 11 seconds.

The NHS target is seven minutes.

And the average time for category 2 emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks is now 2 hours 39 minutes, well above the target of 18 minutes.

It is hoped that a new national urgent and emergency care recovery plan, which includes a raft of measures aimed at freeing up space in hospitals quicker, is the answer to reducing wait times and in turn speeding up ambulance response.

Gloucestershire County Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Bourton and Northleach) said ahead of the plan’s announcement on January 30 that the local NHS was in crisis and called on the government do more.

“The Government’s failure to tackle the crisis in our NHS is letting down people in Gloucestershire and putting patients’ lives at risk”, he said.

“How much more evidence do Ministers need? They either don’t care or just can’t grasp the scale of this problem.

“Unacceptable and heart-breaking delays mean the Government is falling far short even on its own targets.

“Far too many people in Gloucestershire are having to wait far too long to get the treatment they need. In many cases, this is literally a matter of life or death. People in our area deserve far better.

“Our NHS isn’t just at breaking point - it’s splitting at its very seams. We need action from the Conservatives.”

A spokesperson for NHS Gloucestershire said the service welcomes the national recovery plan, which was published in response to record demand for services.

The plan includes ambitions to reduce category 2 response times to an average of 30 minutes nationally over 2023/24, with a view to reaching pre-pandemic levels the following year, and improving to 76 per cent of patients being admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours by March 2024.

Dr Andy Seymour, Chief Medical Officer, NHS Gloucestershire, said: “One Gloucestershire health and care partners are working to strengthen our plans to improve the experience for people when they need care and support.

“Staff across the NHS and care system have been providing care under enormous pressures and our priority is ensuring we have the best possible measures in place to maintain high quality care for those most in need.

“However, it is important to acknowledge the scale of the challenge and understand that health and care staff are already working harder and longer than ever before.

“It is essential that we work together to develop a sustainable workforce - ensuring services can access the skills and people they need.”