Publish date: 4 August 2025
A regional drive to achieve maximum ambulance handover times of 45 minutes at all trusts with a type 1 emergency department in the North West will launch on Friday, 1 August. The ambition of ensuring no ambulance handover takes more than 45 minutes was set out in this year’s NHS Operational Planning Guidance and the national Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26.
The plan sets out actions for all Trusts with a Type 1 emergency department (ED), ambulance Servies and integrated care boards to improve ambulance response times and eliminate long handover delays, imposing a maximum handover wait of 45 minutes for any patient at ED.
It is key to improving ambulance response times by getting crews back on the road to respond to emergencies and will help to reduce risk and improve patient outcomes.
