Ambulance delays woe

THE Welsh Ambulance Service has recorded its worst set of response times to life-threatening calls in its history, latest figures have revealed. In some parts of Wales more than 60% of the most urgent ‘red’ calls were not reached within the target time of eight minutes.

Significant delays in response times are most often due to backlogs at overcrowded A&E departments, resulting in patients having to wait in ambulances outside. There have been reports of patients waiting almost two days in a vehicle before being handed over to hospital staff.

The Welsh Ambulance Service’s executive director of operations, Lee Brooks, confirmed that in October alone the NHS trust lost almost 29,000 hours to handover delays; this has more than trebled in the past two years. Mr Brooks added that while ambulance crews reached more patients in eight minutes than in October 2021, demand for red calls has risen substantially.

“Emergency ambulances are to deliver lifesaving immediate care and to take patients promptly to hospital for treatment, so it’s as frustrating for us as it is for patients when we can’t deliver that part of our service. Hospital handover delays remain the single biggest reason we cannot get to some patients promptly,” he admitted.

“Despite record recruitment, including the creation of 400 extra posts in our Emergency Medical Service in the last three years, it is not enough to plug this lost capacity. We continue to do what we can to alleviate pressure by treating and triaging more patients over the telephone and in the community and referring them to other parts of the NHS.

“A new roster system will ensure that our finite resources are better aligned to demand, now and in the future.”

In the Hywel Dda University Health Board area, just 39.3% of red calls were reached within eight minutes last month.