Pressure mounts as ambulances forced to queue
AMBULANCES have been seen queuing up outside Wales’ largest hospital amid concerns of “sustained pressures” on NHS services.
Video footage showed ambulances in front of University Hospital of Wales’ emergency department in Cardiff on Monday evening, as the NHS continues to experience high demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, waiting lists, staff absences and regular winter pressures.
The Welsh Ambulance Service said handover delays remained a “serious and long-standing issue” that are affecting crews across the UK.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said “significant and sustained pressures” are leading to delays in the timely discharge of patients from hospital.
The video footage was taken just after 7pm on Monday. It shows about 13 ambulances outside UHW’s emergency department.
An eyewitness, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I saw almost 15 ambulances in the A&E waiting area.
“I think more should be done to help our NHS who have been here right through the pandemic.”
Jason Killens, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “Despite ongoing efforts over the years, hospital handover delays remain a serious and long-standing issue which is affecting ambulance services across the UK, including here in Wales.
“Ambulance crews know better than anyone the impact that delayed handover has on a patient’s experience because they spend many hours, sometimes an entire shift, with the same patient on the back of a vehicle before they are accepted into the care of the hospital.
“It’s as distressing for our crews as it is for the patient and their loved ones, especially when there are other patients in the community who need our help and we can’t get to them.
“Our role as an emergency ambulance service is to deliver immediate and lifesaving interventions and to take patients promptly to hospital for treatment – being available in the community to respond to people is therefore essential.
“The focus of all of us in the NHS is on patient safety, whether that’s patients on the back of an ambulance outside the emergency department or patients in the community where, arguably, the risk to their safety is greater because they don’t have an expert clinician by their side.
“For the Welsh Ambulance Service, this is about getting to the root cause of complex systemic issues in order to resolve them, rather than adapting to a situation so that it becomes the new normal.
“We continue to work with health board colleagues and Welsh Government to make improvements and effect change.”
The NHS has been under much pressure since the start of the pandemic, but perhaps more so in recent months.
Last week, a senior doctor at a Welsh hospital branded emergency department wait times “unacceptable”.
A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “Health and social care services across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan are experiencing significant and sustained pressures which is leading to delays in care provision and the timely discharge of patients from hospital.
“This in turn is impacting on patient flow within our hospital and waiting times in our emergency units. Our focus remains on patient care and our staff are working tirelessly to see patients in a timely manner dependent on their healthcare needs.
“While we are under these extreme pressures we would ask the public to please help us help you and use the appropriate service by calling CAV 247 or use the NHS 111 online symptom checker if it is not life or limb threatening, so we can assess patients appropriately.”