UK: Nearly 30,000 patients died since pandemic due to ambulance delays, average service time rises to 48 mins

In the UK, lives of 33 heart disease patients have been claimed recently due to delays in treatment as the ambulance reached late.Since the start of the pandemic, researchers calculated that nearly 30,000 individuals have died due to heart ailments. Mentioning the data, experts worry that deaths will continue until the NHS is able to manage the situation.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) researchclaimed that delays in receiving life-saving treatments and tests are contributing to at least 230 fatalities each week. The chief executive said that there is a need to manage the situation to stop unnecessary deaths and grief.

According to the data, weekly deaths are still 17 per cent more, mostly caused by heart disease, than they were before the Covid breakout.

Around 7.6 million people have a heart or circulatory illness in the UK, causing 25 per cent of deaths every year.

Every year, around 10,000 patients areadmitted to hospitals after having a heart attack and 900,000forheart failure. The BHF attributes the rise in excess fatalities from heart illness in the country to ambulance delays.

The latest figures show that the ambulance response time for a call has increased to 48 minutes from 18 minutes.

The charity also cautioned people that there are millions of heart patients havingtrouble accessing care due to problems like high blood are at a high risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

(With inputs from agencies)

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