Recurring concern

Failure to provide timely emergency hospital conveyance

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First reported 9 Jan 2014•Latest report 5 Jun 2026

Definition

What this concern includes

Includes failures in arranging, authorising or providing timely emergency conveyance to hospital when a patient's condition requires urgent hospital assessment or treatment, including delays after the need for conveyance is identified and inappropriate non-emergency conveyance conditions.

Not included

Excludes delays in ambulance attendance, dispatch or travel before the conveyance decision or vehicle arrival; those belong to ambulance-response concerns.
Excludes hospital admission, ambulance-to-hospital handover and treatment delays after the patient has arrived at hospital.
Excludes routine outpatient or non-urgent patient transport.
Excludes generic clinical-assessment or diagnosis failures unless they directly result in delayed or inappropriate emergency hospital conveyance.
Excludes failures of vehicle equipment, patient positioning or restraint unless they directly make the emergency hospital conveyance itself unsafe.

Reports: 11
Individual concerns: 12
Date range: 2014–2026
Stated actions: 18

Reports over time

Reports about this concern issued each year.

* 2026 is projected from reports observed to 7 Sep 2026.

Most frequent recipients

Reports about this concern sent to each recipient.

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust2

NHS England2

Borough Care Ltd1

College of Policing1

Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board1

Dartmoor Prison1

East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust1

High Security Prisons Group1

Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee1

Leeds Prison1

Manchester Prison1

Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust1

Ministry of Justice1

Mitie1

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence1

Concerns and responses across reports

Only concerns grouped under this recurring concern are included. Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.

9 Jan2014
Bedfordshire and Luton
Concerns raised1
1. Delays in conveying patients with head injuries to hospital
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concerns
Each statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response 5
1. Action
  Complete and share the Clinical Capacity Review identifying ambulance capacity shortfalls with Clinical Commissioning Groups.
  Stated by East of England Ambulance Service NHS TrustStated completed
2. Action
  Recruit 400 student paramedics during 2014/15 to increase frontline staffing capacity.
  Stated by East of England Ambulance Service NHS TrustStated in progress
3. Action
  Upskill emergency care assistants through staff development into technician, EMT and paramedic roles.
  Stated by East of England Ambulance Service NHS TrustStated planned
1. Action
  Maximise clinical staffing on frontline vehicles.
  Stated by East of England Ambulance Service NHS TrustStated planned
2. Action
  Reduce response cars and increase ambulance availability.
  Stated by East of England Ambulance Service NHS TrustStated planned
Respondent positions 1
1. Position
  Luton and Bedfordshire generally meet or exceed commissioned emergency-response targets, although vacancies and wider capacity constraints remain.
  Stated by East of England Ambulance Service NHS TrustDisputes the concern
AI-generated summary

Albert James HAND · Prevention of Future Deaths report

This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

Report summary

Albert James Hand suffered a fall at the Arndale Shopping Centre in Luton on 1 November 2013 and experienced a delay of almost one and a half hours before arriving at hospital, during which his Glasgow Coma Scale fell from 11 to 7. The concerns identified were delays in conveying patients with head injuries, insufficient ambulance crews in the Luton and Bedfordshire area, and emergency-call protocols that may put patients at risk and result in future deaths.

Read the report on judiciary.uk
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Delays in conveying patients with head injuries to hospital
Wider context from the report
“(1) That a patient who has suffered a head injury has to wait for over one and a half hours to be conveyed to hospital ”
Source location
Albert James HAND · Prevention of Future Deaths report
Page 2 · concerns
Open source report
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Complete and share the Clinical Capacity Review identifying ambulance capacity shortfalls with Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Verbatim wording from the response
“The Trust is absolutely committed to ensuring the Trust can consistently respond in a timely manner to all calls. The Trust commissioned a Clinical Capacity Review in 2013 which clearly showed that we did not have enough ambulances to enable the Trust to meet its call demand in certain areas. The findings of this review have been shared with the Clinical Commissioning Groups as additional funding is required.”

Source location
2014-0010-Response-by-East-of-England-Ambulance-Service-NHS-Trust
Page 3 · response
Published 9 January 2014
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Recruit 400 student paramedics during 2014/15 to increase frontline staffing capacity.

Verbatim wording from the response
“The Chief Executive Officer, Dr Anthony Marsh, joined the Trust on 1 January 2014. Dr Marsh has six key priorities for the organisation which include recruiting 400 more staff and providing more ambulances across the whole service. It is recognised that the Trust has had historic staffing problems due to a national shortage of paramedics to recruit to the vacancies, but the Trust has in place a significant recruitment drive which will enable more ambulances to be on the road over the next two years. As such, it is envisaged that patients will receive a timelier and more appropriate response to their 999 calls.”

Source location
2014-0010-Response-by-East-of-England-Ambulance-Service-NHS-Trust
Page 3 · response
Published 9 January 2014
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Upskill emergency care assistants through staff development into technician, EMT and paramedic roles.

Verbatim wording from the response
“To address the issue of response availability in general, the Trust is taking internal action against the six key priorities set. These are:”

Source location
2014-0010-Response-by-East-of-England-Ambulance-Service-NHS-Trust
Page 3 · response
Published 9 January 2014
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Maximise clinical staffing on frontline vehicles.

Verbatim wording from the response
“To address the issue of response availability in general, the Trust is taking internal action against the six key priorities set. These are:”

Source location
2014-0010-Response-by-East-of-England-Ambulance-Service-NHS-Trust
Page 3 · response
Published 9 January 2014
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Reduce response cars and increase ambulance availability.

Verbatim wording from the response
“To address the issue of response availability in general, the Trust is taking internal action against the six key priorities set. These are:”

Source location
2014-0010-Response-by-East-of-England-Ambulance-Service-NHS-Trust
Page 3 · response
Published 9 January 2014
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent position was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Luton and Bedfordshire generally meet or exceed commissioned emergency-response targets, although vacancies and wider capacity constraints remain.

Verbatim wording from the response
“Notwithstanding the priorities set out by Dr Marsh designed to increase resource availability across the whole area covered by the Trust, Luton and Bedfordshire consistently achieve their commissioned target and regularly exceed it across all Clinical Commissioning Groups within the county. The Trust is commissioned regionally to reach 75% of all its life-threatening emergencies within eight minutes. This is in line with the national targets set by the Department of Health. Clearly, due to the events described previously, the Trust was not able to meet this target on this particular occasion.”

Source location
2014-0010-Response-by-East-of-England-Ambulance-Service-NHS-Trust
Page 3 · response
Published 9 January 2014
Open published response

Data last updated 7 September 2026

What this concern includes

Not included

Reports over time

Concerns raised1

Delays in conveying patients with head injuries to hospital

Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.5

Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1

Actions described in response 5

Respondent positions 1