Ambulance crews reached emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes one hour quicker in January than they did in December in England, figures show.That is the best performance for 19 months, but still short of the target of 18 minutes.
The improvement comes as rates of flu and Covid hospital admissions have started falling since the turn of the year.Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said despite the improvement the situation was still "intolerable". NHS England's national medical director Prof Sir Stephen Powis said the improvement was pleasing and praised staff for working "flat out" during winter.
The figures showed the waiting list rose slightly to 7.2 million by the end of December, with the number of 18-month waiters increasing by 12% to nearly 56,000.