30 April 2024 – yesterday’s (Federal) press releases

  • Uber Ambulance: Thousands in need of urgent care making their own way to A&E
  • Homelessness figures: Ban no fault evictions before more families made homeless
  • Ed Davey says voters are fed up with “out of touch Conservatives” on visit to Tunbridge Wells
  • First Rwanda flight is “cynical nonsense”

Uber Ambulance: Thousands in need of urgent care making their own way to A&E

  • Patients in need of “very urgent emergency care” making their own way to A&E increased by nearly 40% since 2019
  • The number of elderly patients in need of emergency care going to A&E not in an ambulance has shot up by more than 20%
  • The Liberal Democrats warn Conservative government is creating an “Uber ambulance crisis”

There has been a near 40% increase in the number of patients in need of “very urgent emergency care” making their own way to A&E over the past five years, Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

NHS Trusts were asked for the number of patients who arrived at their A&E departments not in an ambulance, broken down by the urgency and severity of their condition.

504,276 patients classed as Code 2, meaning they were deemed to be in need of “very urgent emergency care”, arrived at A&E not in an ambulance in 2023. This was up 11,500 (2.4%) compared to the previous year, and up 141,000 (38.9%) compared to 2019.

The Liberal Democrats warned the Conservative government is creating an “Uber ambulance crisis” and called on ministers to urgently invest in ambulance services, staffed hospital beds and social care to reduce delays.

The figures also show there has been a particularly sharp rise in elderly patients making their own way to A&E despite needing urgent care. 96,000 patients aged over 65 in need of “very urgent emergency care” made their own way to A&E last year, up 45.4% since 2019.

53 of 140 NHS Trusts responded with complete data meaning the true numbers of patients needing urgent care making their own way to A&E is likely to be far higher.

Some Trusts saw staggering rises in the number of patients arriving in A&E not in an ambulance with very urgent emergency care needs. In York and Scarborough there was a more than eight-fold rise in Code 2 patients coming to A&E not in an ambulance with the figure last year reaching 7,669, up from just 808 in 2019.

In Hull there was a 514% increase to 1,203 Code 2 patients making their own way to hospital, up from just 196 in 2019. At Hillingdon 16,699 Code 2 patients made their own way to hospital last year, up by 8,739 on 2019, a 109.8% increase.

Previous research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that ambulance response time targets for Category 2 emergencies, which include potential heart attack and stroke victims, were missed last year in every local area in England but one.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP said:

This Conservative government has created an ‘Uber-ambulance’ crisis. With ambulance response times soaring, more and more people in need of urgent care are making their own way to A&E rather than risking agonising waits.

Behind each one of these statistics is someone in pain and anxious that they won’t get the care they need in time.

We urgently need investment in our emergency services and more beds in our hospitals, so that patients in urgent need know that an ambulance will arrive in time.

Homelessness figures: Ban no fault evictions before more families made homeless

  • 15% increase in children living in temporary accommodation.
  • 10.9% increase in families threatened with homelessness thanks to no fault evictions, which the government has repeatedly promised to ban.

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government urgently to bring in a ban on no fault evictions, after the latest homelessness figures revealed that 34,220 households were threatened with homelessness between October and December last year.

The party warned that thousands more families risk being left without a home if the government continues to delay its plans to ban no-fault evictions. 5,790 households were threatened with homelessness due to a no fault eviction notice, a 10.9% increase on the previous year.

The latest figures show 112,660 families are living in temporary accommodation, a 12.1% increase, including 71,280 with children – an increase of 15%.

The government has delayed plans to delay no fault evictions in the Renters Reform Bill, after Michael Gove announced the ban will only be brought in once improvements to the courts are made.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to ensure the Renters’ Reform Bill delivers a ban on no fault evictions urgently to stop more families being made homeless through no fault of their own.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Housing, Helen Morgan MP said:

Behind each one of these statistics are families now facing the unimaginable threat of being on the street through no fault of their own.

This Conservative government’s failure to protect the thousands put at risk of homelessness every year due to Section 21’s is utterly shameful.

The dither and delay must end now. Michael Gove has to find his backbone, live up to his word and ban no-fault evictions.

Too many have had to suffer through this Conservative government’s inaction already for this to go on any longer.

Ed Davey says voters are fed up with “out of touch Conservatives” on visit to Tunbridge Wells

On Wednesday 1st May Ed Davey will be making a final local elections campaign visit to the key blue wall battleground of Tunbridge Wells.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on voters to send the Conservative government a message and end an era of “out of touch Conservatives” as voters go to the polls tomorrow for this year’s local elections.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said:

On Thursday, millions of people will have a chance to send this out-of-touch Conservative government a message that it’s time for a change.

From weekly sleaze scandals to monthly missed NHS targets, the Conservative Party has made the issues our country faces far worse with all their chaos. People are fed up with struggling to get a GP appointment and seeing their mortgage payments spiral all while our local rivers are ruined by sewage.

In former Conservative heartlands like Tunbridge Wells, Dorset and Wokingham voters are switching to the Liberal Democrats after years of failure from this Conservative government.

Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to elect a strong local champion, who will fight for a fair deal for you and your community.

First Rwanda flight is “cynical nonsense”

Responding to the reports in the Sun that Britain has removed the first failed asylum seeker to Rwanda, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said:

This is cynical nonsense from a Conservative party that is about to take a drubbing at the local elections. Paying someone to go to Rwanda highlights just how much of a gimmick and farce their plan is.

The truth is from day one the Government have cost the taxpayer eyewatering amounts of money and have failed to fix the issue.

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