PFD report

Christopher Ivan HART · Prevention of Future Deaths report

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Issued 9 Nov 2023•Suffolk

Report record

Published report and response evidence

This page connects the concerns raised in this report with statements found in recipients’ published responses. A link shows a clear evidence connection; it does not assign responsibility.

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Concerns
1

Raised in this report

Recipients
1

Named on the report

Responses found
1

Of 1 recipient

Stated actions
9

Described in responses

Recipients and published responses

Source document

Full report text

This is the full text from the original published report.

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Concerns and recipient responses

Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.

Concerns raised1

  1. Lack of sufficient ambulance resource in Suffolk
    Part of recurring concern: Delays in ambulance attendancePart of recurring concern: Insufficient ambulance service capacity for emergency calls
Responses linked to these concerns

Each statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.

Actions described in response An action is something a recipient says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to a concern raised.3

  1. Action

    Invest in expanding the ambulance workforce and support staff capacity.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated completedThe respondent said that this action was complete when they made their response on 22 November 2023.
  2. Action

    Publish the delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated completedThe respondent said that this action was complete when they made their response on 22 November 2023.
  3. Action

    Maintain additional ambulance capacity funded to expand capacity and improve response times, alongside delivering new ambulances and specialist mental health vehicles.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated in progressThe respondent said that this action was in progress when they made their response on 22 November 2023.

Source evidence

How this individual concern was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. Response links show a clear evidence connection; they do not assign responsibility.

PFD Monitor interpretation

Lack of sufficient ambulance resource in Suffolk

Wider context from the report

“Evidence heard from a Patient Safety Officer from the East of England Ambulance Service identified that, despite previous measures put in place, there are continuing and regular instances of non-availability of ambulances occurring in Suffolk and the wider East of England region. These periods of non-availability (in this case of over 8 ½ hours) fall far short of the target attendance times set by the East of England Ambulance Trust itself. Expert evidence from a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, whose unit treats up to three thousand patients with serious cardiac issues such as Christopher’s each year, identified that had an ambulance for Christopher arrived within the target time, the drugs he could have been given by ambulance personnel, and his early transport to hospital, would on a balance of probabilities have saved his life. I am therefore concerned that the continuing lack of sufficient ambulance resource in Suffolk will lead to future loss of life. ”

Is this part of a recurring concern?

Yes — Delays in ambulance attendance; Insufficient ambulance service capacity for emergency calls.

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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

Invest in expanding the ambulance workforce and support staff capacity.

Verbatim wording from the response

“Regarding staffing capacity, we have made significant investments in the ambulance workforce – the number of NHS ambulance staff and support staff has increased by over 50% since 2010. To help ensure we have the ambulance workforce to meet the future demands on the service, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out plans to boost the number of paramedics by up to 15,600 to deliver services in ambulance and other care settings.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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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

Publish the delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services.

Verbatim wording from the response

“As the Minister responsible for urgent and emergency care services, I recognise the significant pressure the urgent and emergency care system is facing. That is why we published our ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services’ which aims to deliver sustained improvements in waiting times. Our ambitions for this year are to improve A&E waiting times to 78% of patients to be admitted, transferred, or discharged from A&E within four hours by March 2025, and to reduce Category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes on average across this year. The plan is available at https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 1 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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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

Maintain additional ambulance capacity funded to expand capacity and improve response times, alongside delivering new ambulances and specialist mental health vehicles.

Verbatim wording from the response

“Your report highlights that EEAST were under high demand at the time of the incident. A primary aim of our delivery plan is to boost ambulance capacity. Ambulance services received £200 million of additional funding in 2023/24 to expand capacity and improve response times, and we are maintaining this additional capacity in 2024/25. This is alongside the delivery of new ambulances and specialist mental health vehicles. With more ambulances on the road, patients will receive the treatment they need more swiftly.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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Other statements in published responses

These actions and other statements could not be clearly connected to one concern in this report.

Recipient-stated actions An action is something a recipient says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to a concern raised.6

  1. 1

    Provide funding to support timely and effective hospital discharge by the NHS and local authorities.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated completedThe respondent said that this action was complete when they made their response on 22 November 2023.
  2. 2

    Implement a tiering performance and improvement approach for challenged ambulance trusts and wider systems.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated completedThe respondent said that this action was complete when they made their response on 22 November 2023.
  3. 3

    Deliver 5,000 additional staffed, permanent hospital beds backed by dedicated funding.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated completedThe respondent said that this action was complete when they made their response on 22 November 2023.
  4. 4

    Continue working with NHS England to reduce ambulance response times.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated in progressThe respondent said that this action was in progress when they made their response on 22 November 2023.
  5. 5

    Scale up virtual ward capacity to more than 11,000 nationally available beds.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated completedThe respondent said that this action was complete when they made their response on 22 November 2023.
  6. 6

    Maintain the hospital bed capacity uplift in 2024/25.

    Stated by Helen WhatelyStated in progressThe respondent said that this action was in progress when they made their response on 22 November 2023.

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

Provide funding to support timely and effective hospital discharge by the NHS and local authorities.

Verbatim wording from the response

“I recognise that ambulance trusts work within a health and care system and issues such as delayed patient handovers to hospitals can impact on capacity and response times. That is why a key part of the delivery plan is about improving patient flow and bed capacity within hospitals. We achieved our 2023/24 ambition of delivering 5,000 more staffed, permanent hospital beds compared to 2022-23 plans, backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, and we will maintain this capacity uplift in 2024/25. Further, we also achieved our target of scaling up virtual ward bed capacity to over 10,000 ahead of winter 2023/24, and there are now over 11,000 beds available nationally. We have also provided £1.6 billion of funding over two years to support the NHS and local authorities to ensure timely and effective discharge from hospital.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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

Implement a tiering performance and improvement approach for challenged ambulance trusts and wider systems.

Verbatim wording from the response

“We have also implemented a new tiering performance and improvement approach to support challenged ambulance trusts and wider systems. There is support in place at national and regional level to support Tiers 1 and 2 with EEAST in Tier 2 with a universal improvement support offer being made available for all systems.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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

Deliver 5,000 additional staffed, permanent hospital beds backed by dedicated funding.

Verbatim wording from the response

“I recognise that ambulance trusts work within a health and care system and issues such as delayed patient handovers to hospitals can impact on capacity and response times. That is why a key part of the delivery plan is about improving patient flow and bed capacity within hospitals. We achieved our 2023/24 ambition of delivering 5,000 more staffed, permanent hospital beds compared to 2022-23 plans, backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, and we will maintain this capacity uplift in 2024/25. Further, we also achieved our target of scaling up virtual ward bed capacity to over 10,000 ahead of winter 2023/24, and there are now over 11,000 beds available nationally. We have also provided £1.6 billion of funding over two years to support the NHS and local authorities to ensure timely and effective discharge from hospital.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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

Continue working with NHS England to reduce ambulance response times.

Verbatim wording from the response

“However, I recognise there is still more to do to reduce response times further, and the Government will continue to work with NHS England to achieve this.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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

Scale up virtual ward capacity to more than 11,000 nationally available beds.

Verbatim wording from the response

“I recognise that ambulance trusts work within a health and care system and issues such as delayed patient handovers to hospitals can impact on capacity and response times. That is why a key part of the delivery plan is about improving patient flow and bed capacity within hospitals. We achieved our 2023/24 ambition of delivering 5,000 more staffed, permanent hospital beds compared to 2022-23 plans, backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, and we will maintain this capacity uplift in 2024/25. Further, we also achieved our target of scaling up virtual ward bed capacity to over 10,000 ahead of winter 2023/24, and there are now over 11,000 beds available nationally. We have also provided £1.6 billion of funding over two years to support the NHS and local authorities to ensure timely and effective discharge from hospital.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

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

Maintain the hospital bed capacity uplift in 2024/25.

Verbatim wording from the response

“I recognise that ambulance trusts work within a health and care system and issues such as delayed patient handovers to hospitals can impact on capacity and response times. That is why a key part of the delivery plan is about improving patient flow and bed capacity within hospitals. We achieved our 2023/24 ambition of delivering 5,000 more staffed, permanent hospital beds compared to 2022-23 plans, backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, and we will maintain this capacity uplift in 2024/25. Further, we also achieved our target of scaling up virtual ward bed capacity to over 10,000 ahead of winter 2023/24, and there are now over 11,000 beds available nationally. We have also provided £1.6 billion of funding over two years to support the NHS and local authorities to ensure timely and effective discharge from hospital.”

Source location

2023-0453 Response from Department of Health and Social Care
Page 2 · response
Published 22 November 2023

Open published response
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Information checked against the published report and official responses · Data reviewed 7 Sep 2026 · About data quality and limitations

Data last updated 7 September 2026