Bristol ambulance, A&E and treatment wait times longer than average, whilst cancer treatment times better than NHS targets

97.8 per cent of cancer patients waited less than a month for treatment

Recent NHS data shows that waiting times for cancer treatment in Bristol are lower than the national average, but overall wait times in A&E and for treatment remain high. The data also revealed that South West Ambulance Service has the longest response time out of all ambulance services in England for Category One calls.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust ranks 129th out of 188 trusts in England for A&E waiting times. 73.5 per cent of attendances are seen within four hours, with the England average being 76.3 per cent and the NHS target 76 per cent.

South West Ambulance Service ranks 11th out of 11 services in England for Category One calls. The target for these calls is seven minutes, and the data shows that South West ambulances take an average of nine minutes and 38 seconds to reach these cases.

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: "We are sorry that we have not always been able to provide a timely response to some patients. Any occasion where the care we provide falls below the high standards our patients deserve and rightly expect is unacceptable.

"Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our people and partners, our response times have recovered to a more stable position, compared to previous years, but there is still more to do.

“Handover delays at emergency departments remain one of our biggest challenges. To ensure our ambulances are available to attend the next emergency call within the community, we need to be able to hand patients over within the 15-minute national target.

“We continue to work hard with our partners in the NHS and social care, to do all we can to improve the service that patients receive.”

According to the data, the total treatment waiting list for University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust reached 58,637 in July 2024. Of these, 23,004 have been waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment.

This means that 60.8 per cent of cases on the waiting list were on the waiting list for fewer than 18 weeks. The England average is 62.5 per cent, and the NHS target is 92 per cent.

A total of 2,051 have been waiting over a year at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. Cases currently on the list have been waiting an average of 13.29 weeks.

However, the cancer waiting times at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust beat the England average and NHS target. 97.8% of cases waited less than a month from a decision to treat to a first treatment for cancer, with the England average being 91.9 per cent and NHS target 96 per cent.

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust said: “We know that long waiting times can be distressing for patients and want to reassure them that we are working hard to reduce waiting times further and continue to prioritise the most clinically urgent cases.

“We are making improvements to our waiting lists and we are meeting national standards for cancer waiting times including the faster diagnosis standard, the 31 day decision to treat to treatment standard, and the 62 day referral to treatment interim standard. Our patients’ safety and wellbeing remains our upmost priority.”

A link to the full data sets can be found on the NHS website here.