Key Summary
- The average handover time this January (37:16) was more than 2 minutes faster than January 2025 (39:27).
- There were 420,324 ambulances handovers this January, a 5.2 percent increase from 399,415 in January 2025.
- Norovirus continues to exert pressure on hospitals with more than 1,000 beds occupied each day last week.
Ambulances in January handed over the highest number of patients for the month since 2020, and the handover timing was faster than January 2025.
As per the provisional figures, there were 420,324 ambulances handovers with known times in January, a 5.2 percent increase from 399,415 in January 2025.
However, the average handover time this January (37:16) was more than 2 minutes faster than January 2025 (39:27).
This improvement is the result of better NHS preparation for winter, as services focused on keeping more ambulances on the road and improving patient flow through hospitals.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said, “By planning for winter earlier than ever before, we’re now seeing real improvements in urgent and emergency care."
However, he cautioned that winter pressures haven’t disappeared, "but we’re learning from this season to strengthen our response further and break the cycle of struggle the NHS faces each winter”.
Meanwhile, norovirus continues to exert pressure on hospitals with more than 1,000 (1,093) adult beds on average closed or occupied each day last week.
There were also almost 4,000 more calls (3,878) received by NHS 111 services (381,479) compared to the same week last year (377,601).
However, flu rates continue to drop since last month’s peak, but there was still an average of almost 1,500 (1,491) patients in hospital with flu and an average of 630 patients in hospital with COVID-19 per day last week.
Vaccination data shows 18.8 million flu vaccines have been delivered since the autumn/winter campaign began - around half a million more than at the same point last year, helping to keep more people out of hospitals.
NHS National Medical director professor Meghana Pandit said: “Early NHS preparation and planning for winter is paying off for patients.
“Patients are being handed over from ambulances quicker, even amid high demand on services."
