England’s ambulance crews spend 1.8m hours a year on mental health call-outs

Exclusive: Labour says alarming' NHS figures show rising number of people on waiting lists for support reaching out to 999 in a crisis

Ambulance crews in England are spending 1.8m hours a year - the equivalent of 75,000 days - dealing with patients with mental health problems, new NHS figures reveal.

Labour's Dr Rosena Allin-Khan said the data showed that lack of help for people experiencing mental ill health was adding to the strain on the hard-pressed ambulance service.