More than a third of UK adults have made their own way to hospital as a result of ambulance delays, according to new figures.

A poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats found patients have resorted to taxis and public transport after calling 999.

Savanta interviewed 2,093 UK adults aged 18 and over online from March 24 – 26 this year.

Data was weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region and social grade. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are represented as regions.

The Scottish Government said the poll was not reflective of the situation in Scotland where "despite pressures" ambulances were responding to patients faster than anywhere else in the UK.

READ MORE: Scottish A&E waiting times improve across a range of measures

Of those who have called for an ambulance in the last year for either themselves or a family member, 34% say that they made their own way to hospital due to the lengthy waiting time. 

This includes one in six (17%) who drove, one in ten (11%) who took a taxi, and even some (6%) who used public transport due to the wait for an ambulance being too long. 

Just half (55%) of adults in the poll who called 999 to request an ambulance say that they waited for an ambulance, despite being in need of medical care. The majority of people who took part in the poll had voted Labour in the 2019 general election.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an urgent five-point plan to support ambulance services and to ease the pressure on hospitals.

As part of this the party is calling for a long-term strategy to improve social care, expand hospital beds and put an end to ambulances waiting outside hospitals.

They want to introduce a carer’s minimum wage at £2 to help avoid staff turning to other better paid jobs in supermarkets and hospitality.

The party also wants to see mental support services expanded to reduce the number of ambulance call-outs for psychological distress.

READ MORE: Probe into patients deaths in ambulances outside hospitals

Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “These frightening figures reveal the horror of England’s ambulance crisis. 

“Not only have ambulance services been left to pick up the slack of a broken health and care system, now people are being left to drive or even take a bus just to get to A&E because the ambulances themselves can’t get there in time. 

"This is truly scandalous.

“The British public pay their fair share in tax to fund our NHS and at the very least they should be able to expect an ambulance to arrive in their hour of need. Conservative Ministers should apologise to every member of the public forced to make their own way to hospital because the ambulance simply couldn’t turn up in time.

“This is a life or death issue and the Government just doesn't seem to get it. 

“Britain’s local health services have been underfunded and neglected for too long.

“We need a plan to fix health and social care, including recruiting more paramedics, before another health crisis causes more unnecessary deaths.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This UK-wide poll does not reflect the situation in Scotland where, despite significant pressures, the Scottish Ambulance Service continues to respond to patients more quickly than other ambulance services in the UK.

“Scottish Ambulance Service staffing is up 53% since 2006 and continued increased investment from the Scottish Government has seen a record number of additional staff join the service since 2021, with further recruitment underway.

“We continue to support the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure resources are in place across the country to maintain a fast and effective response to the most seriously ill patients. NHS staff are working hard to ensure quick and safe handover of patients, releasing ambulance crews back into the community.”

The latest figures show waiting times in Scotland’s A&E units improved across a range of benchmarks, but more than 30%  of patients still waited too long to be seen.

Public Health Scotland reported the percentage of people seen within the four-hour target in the week to March 5 rose from 64.5 to 69%.

This was just below the year high of 70.3% recorded in the last week of January.

READ MORE: What does the latest data on ambulances show?

However, more half of patients waited too long in some major city hospitals, with just 45.5% seen on time at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary, 47.1% at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, and 48% at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

The total number of patients waiting more than four hours last week fell from 8,629 to 7,428, with the number waiting more eight hours down from 2,983 to 2,300 and the number waiting more than 12 hours falling from 1,275 to 916.

The figures ended a month-long run of the statistics going in the wrong direction.

The target is for 95% of patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

It has not been met nationally since July 2020.