Tag Archives: ambulance services

Mark Valladares

18-19 January 2025 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 19th January 2025 - 10:30 pm
  • Patel on Trump: “naive and dangerous”, say Lib Dems
  • Davey: Trump presidency “deeply worrying for millions”
  • Pressure rises on Govt as two in three Labour voters back closer ties with Europe given Trump presidency
  • More than 11,000 malicious calls to ambulance service in past decade
  • 2024 the worst year on record at A&E

Patel on Trump: “naive and dangerous”, say Lib Dems

Responding to Priti Patel’s comments about the Trump presidency on Laura Kuenssberg’s programme this morning, Calum Miller MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, said:

Priti Patel’s comments on her ‘trust’ in Trump are naive and dangerous. The incoming US administration will be one to watch carefully, to deal with critically – not one in which we should put blind faith.

Her desire to rush into a free trade deal between the UK and US – one that could sell British farmers and food standards down the river – reminds us of where her and her party’s true alliances lie: with the Mar-a-Lago clan, not with constituents here in Britain.

The Conservatives are competing with Reform to be most submissive toward Trump, but we should be approaching the new President from a position of strength.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to push for a fair deal for British people – beginning with a new UK-EU customs union that boosts UK growth.

Davey: Trump presidency “deeply worrying for millions”

Commenting as Trump’s inauguration takes place today , Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said:

Donald Trump returning to the White House will be deeply worrying for millions of people in the UK and around the world. With a President who promises trade wars, undermines NATO and praises Vladimir Putin, the threats to our national security and our economy are clear.

The UK must lead on the world stage again, standing up for our interests by working closely with other countries – above all our European neighbours.

While Nigel Farage toadies up to Donald Trump and Elon Musk in Washington, Liberal Democrats are working hard for our communities here in the UK. We will press the Government to be far more ambitious and positive in fixing our relationship with Europe, to strengthen Britain’s hand when it comes to dealing with Trump.

Pressure rises on Govt as two in three Labour voters back closer ties with Europe given Trump presidency

A two-thirds majority (64%) of 2024 Labour voters agree that the UK should build closer “economic and security ties with Europe” given Trump’s incoming presidency, polling commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed – piling pressure on the Government to accelerate talks on UK-EU relations as the new presidency gets under way.

Continue reading »
Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , , , and | 5 Comments
Mark Valladares

16 December 2024 – the overnight press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 16th December 2024 - 7:30 am
  • English Devolution plan: Deafening silence on social care
  • Revealed: 15 years of NHS ambulance time wasted already this winter – up from 10.5 years last year

English Devolution plan: Deafening silence on social care

Commenting ahead of government’s English Devolution plan, Liberal Democrat Local Government spokesperson Vikki Slade MP said:

The deafening silence from the government on the social care crisis is hugely concerning.

Council budgets are on the brink. The previous Conservative government pushed so many local authorities to the edge of bankruptcy.

Without properly investing in social care more of the vital services that councils provide will disappear to those who desperately need them.

Revealed: …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
Mark Valladares

8 December 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 8th December 2024 - 9:30 pm
  • Ambulance delays crisis: Streeting must make a statement to Parliament
  • Syria: Assad must now face justice for his crimes

Ambulance delays crisis: Streeting must make a statement to Parliament

Responding to reports that heart attack patients are being advised to make their own way to hospital while six of England’s ten ambulance trusts are at risk of service failure, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan said:

The shocking reports on the state of ambulance services are extremely concerning, and show the dire situation in which the Conservative government has left so many of our vital NHS services.

Lack of services and wait

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

31 August & 1 September 2024 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 1st September 2024 - 10:30 pm
  • Lib Dems call for vote on Winter Fuel Allowance cut this week to avoid ‘damaging public trust’
  • DIY A&E: Scots treat their wounds and make slings over fear of hospital waits
  • Sharp rise in 999 callers making their own way to hospital
  • Cole-Hamilton responds to Swinney conference speech

Lib Dems call for vote on Winter Fuel Allowance cut this week to avoid ‘damaging public trust’

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper has written to Rt Hon Lucy Powell MP, the Leader of the House of Commons, demanding that MPs be given a vote this week on the government’s proposed cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance for millions of pensioners.

In her letter, Daisy Cooper warns that failing to hold a debate and vote on the issue would risk “damaging public trust in politics” especially given the policy wasn’t included in the Labour manifesto at the election and is now set to go through with “minimal parliamentary scrutiny.”

The letter adds that there are just two weeks to go to protect pensioners from the cut before it comes into force on 16th September.

The Liberal Democrats will tomorrow table a motion backed by all 72 of its MPs to block the government’s proposals through a debate and vote in Parliament.

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper MP said:

Over the past few weeks we have heard from countless pensioners worried about whether they’ll be able to heat their homes this winter.

To push these cuts through without any other measures to mitigate the impact on millions of poorer pensioners, and with minimal parliamentary scrutiny, risks damaging the public’s trust in politics and putting the most vulnerable at risk.

We all appreciate the damage that the Conservative Party did to the public finances and the size of the challenges in front of us, but this is a step in the wrong direction and the proposed cuts must be scrutinised properly.

The government must give MPs the chance to debate better solutions, vote on their cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance and prevent millions of the most vulnerable in our society from losing out.

DIY A&E: Scots treat their wounds and make slings over fear of hospital waits

A new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that people are suffering in pain or treating themselves rather than go to A&E out of fear of waiting times.

The poll reveals the lengths to which people across the UK went if they needed to use A&E in the past two years, but decided not to, over fears of waiting times.

Continue reading »
Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , and | 10 Comments
Mark Valladares

31 July 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 31st July 2024 - 11:50 pm
  • Pensioner waits more than 9 hours for ambulance after suffering heat stroke as UK hits heatwave
  • CalMac maintenance soars 55% in a year to over £41m

Pensioner waits more than 9 hours for ambulance after suffering heat stroke as UK hits heatwave

  • Freedom of Information Act (FOI) on heat strokes reveals a pensioner in the East Midlands waited close to nine-and-a-half-hours for an ambulance last year.
  • FOI shows an almost doubling of ambulance response times when going on call outs involving heat stroke since 2018/19, rising from 32 minutes to 59 minutes in 2023/24.
  • Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper calls for urgent cross-party talks on social care and a review of the UK’s preparedness for heat waves saying: “We’ve heard too many harrowing heatstroke stories from people waiting hours in a state of confusion for an ambulance to arrive.”

A pensioner in the East Midlands waited close to nine-and-a-half-hours for an ambulance last year a Liberal Democrat FOI has revealed as the UK is in the midst of a heatwave following high temperatures this week.

The data also revealed that there has been a staggering 84% increase in ambulance response times when going on call outs involving heat stroke since 2018/19, rising from 32 minutes to 59 minutes in 2023/24.

Continue reading »
Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

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

By Mark Valladares | Wed 1st May 2024 - 10:00 pm
  • 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.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , , , , , and | Leave a comment
Mark Valladares

20 April 2022 -today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 20th April 2023 - 10:45 pm
  • 4.3 million anti-social behaviour reports go unattended by police in past five years
  • Lib Dems demand food summit in Downing Street to tackle “tsunami” of rising food prices
  • Welsh Health Statistics – Emergency Social Care Plan Needed
  • Raab Report: More dither and delay

4.3 million anti-social behaviour reports go unattended by police in past five years

  • Over 2,000 incidents of anti-social behaviour went unattended by police each day last year
  • Some police forces attending fewer than one in five (19%) incidents
  • Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey calls for “return to proper community policing” with more bobbies on the beat

A staggering 4.3 million reports of anti-social behaviour have …

Continue reading »
Posted in News, Press releases and Wales | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

8 March 2023 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 8th March 2023 - 10:30 pm
  • Braverman’s dangerous rhetoric trashes Britain’s proud legacy
  • Ed Davey raises deadly ambulance delays at PMQs
  • Suella Braverman: Lib Dems demand inquiry into potential breach of ministerial code
  • Steve Brine must stand down from Health Select Committee amid sleaze scandal

Braverman’s dangerous rhetoric trashes Britain’s proud legacy

Responding to comments made by the Home Secretary this morning on the government’s small boats proposals, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said:

Suella Braverman can’t even answer basic questions about her flawed, callous and inhumane policy.

To suggest that those who oppose these divisive plans are somehow betraying Britain is stooping to a new low. It is

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Mark Valladares

10 February 2023 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 10th February 2023 - 10:30 pm
  • Economic vandalism leaves Britain on the edge of recession
  • Lack of further energy bill support “heartless” – Davey
  • One in 20 waiting five minutes or more for 999 calls to be answered

Economic vandalism leaves Britain on the edge of recession

Responding to the latest ONS figures which see the UK economy narrowly avoiding recession, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

Britain is dangling on over the edge of a recession after months of economic vandalism and chaos in Government. The blame for these gloomy figures lies squarely with the Government, who have botched budgets, failed to tackle inflation and have no plan for growth.

The Conservative party hasn’t a shred of economic competence left. This Government has hiked taxes to record levels and done nothing to stimulate economic growth. Businesses are now drowning in mountains of red-tape because of failed trade deals which has stifled all hope of an economic recovery after the pandemic. Gross incompetence and mismanagement of the country’s finances has led to this point.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Mark Valladares

24 January 2023 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 24th January 2023 - 10:35 pm
  • Borrowing Figures: The Govt have no economic competence left
  • Stockport becomes first council to launch a sewage inquiry amid public outrage
  • Mark Drakeford Challenged on Abysmal Ambulance Waiting Times

Borrowing Figures: The Govt have no economic competence left

Responding to the latest borrowing figures, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

A toxic combination of Conservative incompetence and reckless decision making at the top of Government have blown a hole in the country’s finances, and now ministers are making British families pay for it.

A long-list of Conservative Chancellors have hiked taxes, added hundreds of pounds a month to mortgages and left the country with unnecessarily high borrowing costs. The British public will never trust the Conservative party again with the economy. This Conservative Government doesn’t have a shred of economic competence left after months of chaos.

Stockport becomes first council to launch a sewage inquiry amid public outrage

  • Water company hauled in front of public meeting to defend thousands of hours worth of sewage discharges into rivers
  • The Environment Agency confirms in written evidence that water quality is “poor” and the Water Industry “is responsible”
  • Chair of the new inquiry Cllr Smart slams “a national scandal which pollutes our rivers and puts animals lives at risk”

Liberal Democrat run Stockport Council has become the first council in the country to launch an official Sewage Inquiry.

There is widespread outrage across Stockport after United Utilities dumped sewage into the river Mersey a staggering 977 times last year, lasting 3,271 hours. Across Stockport, the water firm discharged 13,372 hours of sewage discharges into local rivers.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

19 January 2023 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 19th January 2023 - 10:30 pm
  • Record ambulance delays reveal NHS “horror show”
  • Latest NHS figures on delayed discharges reveal “living nightmare”
  • Levelling up: Rural and coastal communities taken for granted

Record ambulance delays reveal NHS “horror show”

Ambulance response times in Wales have fallen to a record low in December with a staggering 60.5% of red calls (those deemed most life-threatening) being above the official target times. This figure is the highest on record and beats previous numbers in December 2021 and 2020, the latter of which was at the height of the pandemic.

Figures have also shown that a shocking 78% of amber calls, which include heart attacks and …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
Helen Morgan

Helen Morgan: 12 hours with an ambulance crew

By Helen Morgan | Tue 11th October 2022 - 1:45 pm

It’s midday on a wet and windy Friday afternoon. Normally I’d be in a village hall for a surgery with constituents. Instead, I’m hurtling down an A-road being deafened by a siren in the back of an ambulance.

I’m with paramedics Steve and Julie and we’re responding to the first call of our 12-hour shift. It’s only minutes since we clocked on but the elderly lady in need of help has been waiting more than three hours. She’s got Covid symptoms and chest problems making her a category two call with a target response time of 18 minutes.

Indeed, by the time we pack up just before 1am we’ve been to four category two calls, all of which had been waiting at least two hours, and one category three with a 12-hour delay.

All of our response times are around 10 times longer than the target and today is a ‘good’ day by recent standards in Shropshire.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Mathew Hulbert describes his mum’s 11 hour ambulance wait

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 19th July 2022 - 7:32 am

Many of us will have seen on social media that Barwell Lib Dem Councillor Mathew Hulbert lost his mum, Jackie, last week. We were all shocked that she had to wait 11 hours for an ambulance after a fall at her home. The picture, taken by Mathew’s sister,  shows  a happy Mathew and Jackie enjoying a drink earlier this year.

Mathew went on LBC last night to talk to Iain Dale about their ordeal.

A week ago yesterday my mum fell in the early hours. She pressed her buzzer. I got to the house. She said her ribs hurt so we didn’t move her.  We phoned an ambulance and they said that they were telling people it would be 10 hours before one came but not to worry, it would be sooner.

Unfortunately, the hours passed by. Mathew kept kept ringing up and was being told that the ambulance would be there as soon as possible.

It was the indignity of it for my mum, 78, frail, scared wondering when help would come and it didn’t for 11 hours.

It was incredibly difficult. This is someone you love and who brought you up and cared for you.

Eventually, after 11 hours, the paramedics arrived. Mathew said;

They couldn’t have been more caring and compassionate but it was still 11 hours too late.

Jackie was conscious and chatting as they took her off to hospital and at that point, there was no indication that she was in any danger.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 4 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Zachary Adam Barker
    "The fire at Heathrow is also another reason why enlarging this airport (third runway) and making it even more of a single point of failure is ill considered." ...
  • Nonconformistradical
    OK it's on now...
  • Nonconformistradical
    When is the rally starting? Watching from home and not seeing anything (18:39)...
  • Nick Baird
    "there are still people arguing we don’t have a problem, and there’s no need for change" Are there? I think it's widely acknowledged that there is a prob...
  • Jonathan Calder
    I hope Jennie pointed out that it's not so long since we were in coalition with another party....