Emergency ambulance crews have been shortlisted for an NHS Parliamentary award for speeding up the waiting time for getting patients into A&E.

The nomination is one of two shortlisted categories for ‘emergency care’ and an apprenticeship scheme nominated by five MPs in east and north London.

The first is for paramedics working with hospital staff at King George Hospital in Goodmayes who have managed to transfer patients to the A&E within 45 minutes of arriving.

They were nominated by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the Ilford North MP, and Julia Lopez the MP for Hornchurch and Upminster.

The other nomination for an apprenticeship training scheme came from Stephen Timms at West Ham, Barry Gardiner at Brent South and Emily Thornberry at Islington South.

The nominations mean London Ambulance Service has made it through to the UK award finals next month, competing with more than 900 submissions from all over Britain.

“We are proud to be recognised by MPs and the Secretary of State for these awards,” ambulance service chief medical officer Dr Fenella Wrigley said. “Our staff work hard to improve care and we make sure our teams develop and continue to improve, working with London’s health system.”

Speeding up the handing over of patients at King George Hospital has reduced delays and let the crews get back on the road to their next call more quickly.

A third of all handovers at the hospital in 2023 took more than an hour. Crews would be waiting with a patient outside “for longer than they should”.

But now a new working practice has reduced hour-long waits to just one per cent of all calls.

The other nomination for an apprenticeship scheme helps NHS staff “learn as they earn”, getting on-the-job experience, with recruits from all backgrounds now representing London’s diverse population better.

The proportion of trainees from minority backgrounds has risen from eight per cent last year to around 17 per cent today. The scheme has also raised the ratio of women from 48 to 55 per cent of all ambulance crews.

The NHS London regional shortlist now goes forward to the national awards at Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth Centre on October 14.