Ambulance services across Suffolk have mixed results of an increase or a decrease in handovers to hospitals

The number of ambulance handover delays has dropped across the East of England, according to figures obtained by our news team, but in Suffolk, it's a mixed result

We looked at how many people waited either 30 minutes, 60 minutes or 120+ minutes to go from an ambulance into a hospital. The results are as follows.

Ipswich Hospital

From 2023, the number of people waiting for 30 minutes at Ipswich Hospital jumped from 8,308 to 10,417. That's an increase of 25.7%

Those waiting for 60 minutes rose from 3856, to 5,208. Increasing by 29.8%.

And patients left for two hours or more rose from 1,812 to 2,402, an increase of 28.01%.

West Suffolk Hospital

From 2023, the number of people waiting for 30 minutes at West Suffolk Hospital fell from 3,852 to 3,240. That's a decrease of -15.8%

Those waiting for 60 minutes fell from 1,399, to 1,228. Decreasing by -12.2%

And patients left for two hours or more fell from 580 to 465 a decrease of 19.82%

Across the region

Other hospitals in the region have seen more than one in ten handovers delayed by two hours - such as Colchester General Hospital and Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital.

Mark Wibberley, a paramedic at East of England Ambulance Service and a representative for Unison.

He says that any delays are “frustrating for patients because they want to go to the hospital, not to be in the back of an ambulance”.

“It’s frustrating for us because we're giving the care to those people; they'll want to go to the toilet, we need to take them in to A&E and then back to the ambulance, then we might take them over if they need an x-ray, and depending on how long the queue is, you're with that person a very long time.”

Mr Wibberley says that it is having an impact on the retention of paramedics as “a lot of young people would probably join and then think this isn't actually what I joined for”.

Adding, for the public to “be kind and patient, and realise that we are doing the best possible job we can”.

Figures across East of England Ambulance Service:

Overall, the average handover is just under 15 minutes, which is the national target for a patient to be admitted.

There were 132,265 handovers delayed by 30 minutes in 2025 – a decrease of 5.5% compared to figures for the year before.

The trend continues with a drop of 3.6% in the number of patients waiting for an hour to be admitted and a 1.6% decrease in two-hour delays.

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We are working closely with our hospital partners to reduce handover delays as we know the impact this has on our ability to respond to patients.

"We're bringing more clinicians into our control rooms so those patients who can be safely cared for in the community get the right support, freeing up our ambulances for people who need urgent help.

"The public can play their part in supporting the ambulance service by using NHS 111 online or on the phone, and only calling 999 in a genuine emergency."

Hospital response

Mike Meers Managing Director at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which runs Colchester and Ipswich hospitals.

He said: “Providing safe and high-quality care at all times is our highest priority.

“The number of very unwell patients coming to our hospitals can mean, at peak times, it takes longer for ambulance crews to hand over a patient’s care to hospital staff. Patient safety is always most important, and any patients waiting with ambulance crews are regularly assessed.

“We are committed to working in partnership with ambulance service colleagues and other partners to deliver safe and timely handovers. We have clear action plans in place to significantly reduce ambulance handover times at both Colchester and Ipswich hospitals.”

executive for the West Suffolk Foundation Trust, said:

“Like other local NHS trusts, we experience constant pressure because demand for our services is high, and we often have limited space to admit patients. This is often due to challenges in discharging patients when they are ready to go home and we continue to work with our teams, patients, families and other organisations to make discharge as smooth as possible. I’m sorry that some patients face long waits in ambulances – we are doing everything we can to keep these to a minimum.

“It’s encouraging that the number of “hours lost” to ambulance handover delays continues to reduce, and this reflects the hard work of our staff. We are continuing to develop our urgent and emergency care services to reduce waiting times during ambulance handovers, help ambulances return to the community more quickly, improve the experience in our emergency department, and prevent avoidable admissions.”