Further to the broadcast on 14 May 2026, Anna Parry, Managing Director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) said:
“Last night’s Channel 4 News segment offered a rare and important window into the reality of a modern ambulance service in motion. It showed, in real time, how ambulance clinicians now support people in so many different ways – from expert clinical validation to care closer to home – and how not every 999 call requires an ambulance at the front door.
What viewers saw was the product of a sector that is innovating at pace, working shoulder‑to‑shoulder with hospitals and system partners to reduce handover delays and keep patients safe.
This comes at a time when the ambulance sector is undergoing the fastest and most far‑reaching transformation in its history. Demand continues to rise sharply, yet performance – particularly Category 2 – has improved significantly this year.
That improvement is the result of deliberate, system‑wide change: the expansion of Hear & Treat, the embedding of multidisciplinary clinical hubs, the scaling of advanced practice, and the ability to bring diagnostics and specialist care directly into people’s homes. These are the foundations of a more resilient, more responsive urgent and emergency care system.
“As we look ahead to 2030, the direction of travel is clear. The ambulance sector is already delivering against an ambitious roadmap focused on transforming patient care, fixing the financial and regulatory architecture, sustaining and diversifying the workforce, accelerating digital innovation, and strengthening collaboration across the whole system.
The outcomes we are driving toward – the eradication of handover delays, restoring consistently safe and timely response performance, delivering measurable improvements in clinical quality, and a more equitable experience for every community – are not just aspirations. They are expectations. And Channel 4’s coverage showed exactly why the public should have confidence that this transformation is both real and already well underway.”
Watch the Channel 4 News segment here:
