Do we need to talk about ambulances again?
During January, national ambulance handover times for this winter (2023-4) finally exceeded those of the previous one (2022-3).
(These are handover times, but due to their close correlation with response times, we can expect this to results in show a higher all-January monthly response time - probably around 45 minutes, rather than 30 minutes last year for Category 2s.)
This was almost entirely because the 2022-3 pressure (from COVID and flu) was quite so “spiky”. It was a nightmarish December 2022, and then absolutely plummeted back down to a (relatively) calm January 2023.1
This year, we have much more of an extended bout of both COVID and flu, and it is giving rise to less intense, more more sustained pressure.
So, this should be better overall. Spread the pressure over a longer period and things are better. And, at a national average level, it is.
Averages conceal variation - they do that
But not at some of the locations that are under the greatest strain (and here, sorry, paywall comes in, as we’re about to discuss individual trusts again).