Number of patients awaiting discharge in London hospitals up 14% in a year

NHS national medical director Sir Stephen Powis said: “The measures we set out in our urgent and emergency care recovery plan and winter preparations earlier this year are clearly having an impact, and, thanks to the incredibly hard work of staff, there has been a significant reduction in ambulance handover delays despite higher demand, almost twice the number of 111 calls being answered in a minute, and almost 1,500 more general and acute hospital beds open compared to the same time last year.