Ambulance response times 'putting lives at risk'

Figures from NHS England suggest that in some areas of the UK, heart attack and stroke victims have to wait almost three minutes more to be seen by a paramedic.

Category A calls where a patient's life is in danger should arrive within eight minutes. But ambulances are taking more than a minute longer to arrive on average and experts warn this is putting lives at risk.

Dr Dale Webb, director of research and information at the Stroke Association, said: "When a stroke strikes, the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off which causes brain cells in the affected area to die. So time lost is brain lost. These figures are a concern because stroke patients need to get specialist treatment as soon as possible.

"Lengthening ambulance times are concerning because stroke patients need to get to specialist treatment as soon as possible. The quicker someone arrives at a specialist stroke unit the quicker they should receive the right treatment and the more likely they are to make a better recovery."