The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said it takes fewer patients to hospital than any other ambulance trust in the country.
In May 2025, nearly a third (30.53%) of patients were seen and treated on scene and did not require conveyance to hospital, according to SWASFT.
Latest NHS figures show in July 2025, patients waited an average of two hours to be admitted to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and almost an hour and half outside the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
Paramedic Garry Cornelius-Dodds said: “As a general rule, if they can stay at home, we do as much as we can to leave them at home. We try and explore every option to leave people at home.”
A hospital emergency department should accept the transfer of a patient into their care from an ambulance within the national performance standard time of 15 minutes.
If not, a handover delay occurs and the patient remains in the ambulance until the hospital accepts the handover of care.
Chief executive of SWASFT Dr John Martin said the ambulance service alone could not significantly reduce the delays experienced or resolve the current situation.
He explained handover delays reflected blockages in the flow of patients through the health and social care system and because of this a “whole-system response” was required.
Since November 2024, SWASFT has been working with the region’s hospitals to develop a Timely Handover Process (THP) which is now up and running in 13 hospitals in the south west.
It aims to free up crews to respond to other 999 calls in the community.
The University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said it had seen a reduction in average handover times of approximately 80% since the introduction of THP.
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