Ambulance delays are ‘intolerable’, say health chiefs
HEALTH chiefs have blasted “intolerable” hospital handover times as patients face the longest waits in England.
A report from South Western Ambulance Service has slammed its worstin-the-nation transfer delays, with handovers outside hospitals having increased from 400 hours to 5,250 hours per week in just two years.
The ambulance service also had the nation’s longest wait times for critically ill patients in both September and October, with an average of 11 minutes 48 seconds – the national target is seven minutes.
The new report from the South West Ambulance Service Trust Foundation (SWASTF) shows that the trust loses 750 staff hours per day to long delays in handing over patients to hospitals. In one week alone, the equivalent of more than
70 shifts were lost to ambulances waiting for hospital transfers.
In its report, SWASTF said: “We are currently losing around 750 hours per day to handover delays at hospital emergency departments, compared to around 400 hours per week two years ago.
“This results in many ambulances queuing outside hospitals, and unable to respond to other emergency calls. These levels have become intolerable and it’s an absolute priority for us and for our NHS partners to reduce these delays, so crews can get back out on the road for other patients.”
To help meet demand, firefighters have pitched in and started driving ambulances to help SWASTF.
A SWASTF spokesperson said: “We continue to experience the highestever level of sustained demand on our service. Our response times are directly affected by the time it takes us to handover patients into busy hospital emergency departments, which is longer than we have ever seen before.
“We are losing many more hours compared with recent years which causes our ambulances to queue outside hospitals and unable to respond to other patients and has an inevitable impact on the service we can provide. This is a health system problem which therefore demands a system solution.
“It is an absolute priority for us and our NHS partners to reduce these delays, so we can be there for our patients, while prioritising those who are most seriously injured and ill.
“Patients who need urgent medical help or advice are encouraged to visit or to call 111, which is free and available 24/7. This will ensure they get the right care, and the ambulance service can focus on those most in need.
“For ongoing or nonurgent medical concerns or if they need medicines, people should contact their local GP surgery or a local pharmacy.”
Bristol MP Thangam Debbonaire has written to Health Secretary Sajid Javid calling for help and support for Bristol’s NHS and care sectors.
The Labour MP for Bristol West wrote that the extra funding made available for the health service “will not solve the immediate problems” and asked for help dealing with what she says are “very difficult circumstances”.
She criticised the “stalling” vaccination program and “muddied” government health communications, highlighting that Bristol’s NHS staff are “exhausted” and “demoralised” with the situation.
Health bosses in Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire raised the service alert level to OPEL 4, the highest level, which means there is “increased potential for patient care and safety to be compromised.”