The EDP has reported comments by a paramedic who has clearly been pushed to breaking point.

This statement by a local paramedic is both heartbreaking and terrifying.

“I know my colleagues are really frustrated having to sit with patients [parked outside A&E] for hours on end, when they could and should be responding to other patients.

“Our control room will frequently put out ‘group call’ messages where they are desperately trying to find a crew to respond to a serious 999 call. The crews hear these, but are unable to respond.

“They also have to watch their patients deteriorate in the back of ambulance and, in some documented cases, die.”

It is truly, truly awful. Not just for patients but for staff who train for years to help but are forced to watch as their patients get iller and iller.

Right now, if you’re seriously ill, you can’t even rely on an ambulance to get you to hospital quickly. And even if you do get taken to the hospital, you can’t get into A&E.

How on earth have we arrived at this point?

It’s well known that ambulance trust in the East of England is in crisis, but nationally two other trusts have even worse response times. And when the Tories came to power, only around 5% of patients waited for more than four hours in casualty. Now almost 45% have to wait that long.

From the perpetually never-fixed local mental health trust to plummeting ambulance and A&E standards, this is a Norwich health (and social) care crisis with its roots in Downing Street.