Hospitals across the North West are driving down A&E waiting times and getting ambulances back on the road more quickly, with latest data showing an improved winter performance compared to previous years – although NHS leaders recognise further improvements are needed.

Figures show the NHS has faced its busiest winter on record. In the North West, there were more than 1.2 million (1,285,479) attendances at emergency departments between November 2025 and February 2026, along with 23,000 additional ambulance callouts compared to last winter.

Despite the rising demand, more patients in the region experienced shorter waiting times, with a 3.6% improvement in the number of patients attending A&Es who were admitted, transferred to discharged within 4 hours of arrival at emergency departments – rising from 67.8% in winter 2023/4 to 71.4% this winter.

At the same time, ambulances responded faster to the most serious call outs, including for strokes and heart attacks, with average Category 2 ambulance waits down to 31:03 minutes in the North West this winter, compared to 36:10 minutes during the same period last year– one of the fastest response times in the country.

Dr Michael Gregory, Regional Medical Director for NHS England in the North West, said: “Our emergency departments are busier than ever, but thanks to the hard work of our NHS staff, we have seen promising improvements in A&E waiting times and ambulance response times this winter.

“However, we know some people still experience longer waits than we would like and recognise there is more work to do to deliver the high-quality service we want for our patients.”

Efforts to manage winter pressures and help more people to receive the care they need at home meant that in November and December 2025, almost 20% of people who rang 999 in the North West were directly referred to other services for help without the need of any ambulance attendance, up from 16% a year ago, contributing to improved response times for all categories of patients compared with the last two months of 2024.

It’s in addition to initiatives such as virtual wards and the urgent community response service, which provide urgent care to people in their homes, helping to avoid hospital admissions and enable people to live independently for longer.

Manchester University Foundation Trust has seen 4 hour performance improve across its hospitals this winter compared with last. Data shows 64.8% of people were seen, discharged or admitted within four hours in December 2024 and that figure had risen to 73.3% by December 2025.

The Trust has been recognised as one of the most improved nationally and a leader for ambulance turnaround times. Initiatives that are driving the improved performance, include:

• the launch of new urgent care Single Point of Access (SPoA) last November which provides a single referral route for NWAS, GPs, care homes and community teams, enabling rapid senior clinical review and directing over 53% of patients to more appropriate pathways than an emergency
• expansion of the Hospital at Home service, which now supports more than 250 patients a day with acute, hospital‑level care at home, helping avoid admissions and support timely discharge

Vanesa Gardener, Chief Delivery Officer at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our clinical and operational teams have focused on patient safety, improved flow from our Emergency Departments, to our wards and theatres, and then to home as smoothly as possible. They have done this by working closely with our partners across the system to improve urgent and emergency care so that our patients are seen in the right place, first time.

“We’ve made clear progress, giving more timely treatment to people attending our emergency departments, some of the fastest ambulance handover times in the region, and a growing number of patients safely supported through our community services and our Hospital at Home programme.

We will build on this progress going forward to ensure we provide the best possible timely model of care for our patients from our hospital and community teams. Our partnership-based approach is helping us improve patient experience through delivering safe and earlier intervention with clearer and consistent routes into our community services in Manchester, Trafford and beyond.”

NHS teams across the region have also been working hard to reduce the time it takes for ambulances to transfer patients into the care of staff in emergency departments, getting more ambulances back on the road quicker to deal with other emergencies.

Average ambulance handover times have reduced by more than six minutes so far this winter compared to last winter, reducing from 38:21 minutes down to 32:07 minutes.

Dr Gregory added: “We are absolutely committed to building on the progress that has been made over this winter and continuing to look for new and innovative ways of working that will ensure the best experience and outcomes for patients.”