Ambulance handover delays hit 19,500 hours

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) lost more than 19,500 hours in handover delays in January – the worst month for the service since April 2025.

The national target is for a patient to be admitted within 15 minutes, but the average handover time increased to 41 minutes, about seven more than in the previous month.

The figure was presented to EMAS board officials in a meeting on Tuesday.

But Ben Holdaway, director of operations at EMAS, told the meeting early figures for February showed a drop of nine minutes.

The meeting also heard the health service had been facing system-wide pressure, with Nottinghamshire's hospital trusts both declaring critical incidents in January due to "severe" and "sustained" capacity and demand issues.

January's losses compared to nearly 14,500 hours in December and more than 16,200 in November, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Of the major hospital trusts in the East Midlands, Royal Derby Hospital's handover averaged at 49 minutes and 16 seconds, followed by Leicester Royal Infirmary at just under 40 minutes and Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre at 36 minutes and 48 seconds.

Holdaway told the board nearly one fifth – 19.3% – of all calls into EMAS in February were guided to other services.

Speaking to LDRS following the meeting, he said: "This was slightly below our plan, but it's still a positive because we're dealing with nearly 20% of patients in a better way and then saving ambulances for patients that really need them."

Andrew Hall, chief operating officer at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We do not underestimate the importance of getting ambulances back out to those who need them most.

"We have been working closely with colleagues in EMAS on 45-minute handovers this winter and it is reassuring to see that, despite pressures on our hospitals in January, that our average handover time was 36 minutes."

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