WAIT FOR AN AMBULANCE? WE'LL DRIVE OR GET A BUS

Patients hit by delays scandal

- MARTIN BAGOT

THE Tories were last night accused of bringing the ambulance service to its knees after 13 years of health cuts, with desperate patients now finding their own way to hospital. 

A shock poll found one in three people needing emergency care have driven, taken taxis, trains or even buses amid record 999 waits for paramedics.

A Savanta survey for the Lib Dems exposed just how deep the crisis is within the ambulance service.

Of the 34% of patients who said they have got to hospital under their own steam, 17% drove, 11% took a taxi and 6% used public transport.