after 45 minutes an ambulance had not arrived so his family had to drive martin to the hospital themselves. we just drove, we drove to the hospital, we drove at speed, i unclipped my seat belt and i held my husband and told him i loved him and. and then that was it, he was gone. last month was the busiest on record for the nhs in england, with high rates of flu and covid filling up hospital wards. on average, ambulance response times rose to their highest level on record. for urgent category 2 calls like a heart attack or stroke, the target time to get to a patient is 18 minutes, the average response now takes over 90 minutes. this comes as hospitals are operating above normal safe limits. in england, 95% of beds were full last week, with similar pressure across other parts of the uk.
last week, with similar pressure across other parts of the uk. firstly, the number of patients with flu and secondly the number of patients with covid both peaked at around the same time during december, what that means is that around 10,000 patients were in hospital with flu or with covid at the same time, and that is a really high number, for both of them to peak at the same time. fine high number, for both of them to peak at the same time. high number, for both of them to peak at the same time. one in eight hosital peak at the same time. one in eight hospital beds peak at the same time. one in eight hospital beds are peak at the same time. one in eight hospital beds are being peak at the same time. one in eight hospital beds are being taken - peak at the same time. one in eight hospital beds are being taken up - peak at the same time. one in eight hospital beds are being taken up by| hospital beds are being taken up by patients well enough to go home but who cannot be discha
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took almost 11 minutes on average, the target is seven. and patients are waiting even longer in accident and emergency, 35% waited more than four hours that s another record. our health correspondent jim reed reports. long queues for ambulances, the most 999 calls ever, record waits in a&e, new figures today show in blunt terms the pressure the nhs is under. martin started feeling chest pains in his home in east sussex in november. his family rang three times for an ambulance. we kept thinking, the ambulance will pull up any minute, it is going to arrive, it will be ok. and itjust didn t. after 45 minutes an ambulance had not arrived so his family had to drive martin to the hospital themselves. we just drove, we drove to the hospital, we drove at speed, i unclipped my seat belt and i held my husband and told him i loved him and. and then that was it, he was gone.
including strokes, they were more than an hour and a half on average. the target is 18 minutes. (ani the highest priority calls with an immediate threat to life took almost 11 minutes on average; the target is seven. and patients are waiting even longer in accident and emergency 35 % waited more than four hours that s another record. our health correspondent jim reed reports. long queues for ambulances, the most 999 calls ever, record waits in a&e, new figures today show in blunt terms the pressure the nhs is under. martin started feeling chest pains in his home in east sussex in november. his family rang three times for an ambulance. we kept thinking, the ambulance will pull up any minute, it is going to arrive, it will be ok. and itjust didn t.