Yes, the ambulances issue is mostly, but not exclusively, down to bed capacity.
My dad has been unwell for some time and has had the pleasure of hospital stays on several occasions during the past few years.
Only a couple of weeks ago he was admitted. The ambulance took six hours to arrive (category one) and he was rushed in. I then spent the next four hours sat in the back of that ambulance with him and two paramedics while we waited for a space in A+E. After a four hour period he was transferred to another ambulance as that ambulance was going off shift and needed to return forty miles to the station from which it was despatched (my dad lives seven miles from the hospital - the ambulance came from a different trust area). He spent six hours in the next ambulance. He then spent a further 24 on a trolley in A+E.
When I had to return home I counted the number of ambulances in the hospital car park, fifteen of them! Fifteen ambulances that could have been out supporting emergencies in the vicinity.
I've been back a couple of times to see dad in the past week or so. Seventeen ambulances waiting on one occasion, twenty two on the other.
It's not a lack of ambulances in the system, it's largely down to having enough of them physically driving along the roads and not sitting in hospital car parks.
This isn't a one off - we've experienced this six or seven times (I've lost count) in the past two years.
I understand that this scenario is repeated country wide. Nursing and care homes have closed down or are short staffed making the movement of patients out of hospital into community facilities slower. This means that hospitals are full and patients can only be admitted through the front door when a bed becomes empty.
All of the ambulance services understand the required response times, but there is very little that they can individually do to improve the response. The press and politicians blame them. This seems blatantly unfair as the paramedics are excellent, the despatchers do their best, but the system is in crisis. How we will address this sorry situation, goodness knows.
But I digress, sorry.
As for EV's, yes, one day I will take the plunge. ATM my journeys tend to be longer and less frequent. My car is three years old and has done just 25,000 miles or so. I can't justify changing it. I've embraced the effortless torque that my three litre diesel has - most probably an EV will be an easy transition, in that regard, when the time comes.