Patients left waiting in ambulances hits 5-month high at town’s hospital

GEORGE ELIOT RECORDS HIGHEST NUMBER SINCE DECEMBER 2019

THE number of patients left waiting in ambulances has reached a five-month high at Nuneaton’s hospital.

Latest figures from the George Eliot Hospital for April show that it has recorded the highest number of ambulances waiting to hand over patients since December last year.

It is no secret that the A&E department at the ‘Eliot has been put under increasing pressure in recent months. Demand for emergency care continues to rise.

The sheer numbers going through the doors at A&E is having multiple knock-on effects. Among these is the issue of patients being brought to hospital via ambulance.

A report to hospital board members says: “The increased pressures resulted in 68 ambulances waiting over an hour to hand over patients, the highest since December 2019 (86). Further improvements are being made including promotion of direct access to the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) for ambulance crews, increased alternative capacity to manage variation and continued proactive review of ambulance arrivals with senior decision regarding fit to sit.”

While there have what has been described as ‘very high’ numbers of A&E attendances, the hospital is still also being hit by being unable to discharge patients who are ready to go home after treatment. Delays in being able to discharge people mean beds are not becoming available quicker. This impacts the ‘flow’ of the hospital. At the beginning of April, there were 63 patients who did not need to be in the hospital any longer.

This was ‘significantly higher’ than normal levels at the hospital. According to the report, issues outside of the hospital - including a lack of community and social care provision - are not helping.

“The majority were waiting for packages of care/support at home to be provided,” the report explains. “This excludes the 9 patients in our own Discharge to Assess (D2A) facility in Arbury Lodge.

“We are working closely with community and social care teams, spot-purchasing beds for eligible patients and increasing use of home first to move patients to the most appropriate care setting as quickly as possible but this is hampered by lack of community and social care provision due to increased sickness in these services and reduced provision.”

The situation was due to be discussed at a board meeting this week.

The increased pressures resulted in 68 ambulances waiting over an hour to hand over patients, the highest since December 2019