Patients waiting hours in ambulance queues

THE number of patients left waiting outside hospitals in ambulances is soaring because of infection control measures and ri si ng admissions, and paramedics have warned that emergency calls are going unanswered.

The number of patients waiting more than an hour to be handed over to hospitals in England has more than doubled in two weeks, according to NHS data, with 591 waiting on Dec 27 compared with 273 on Dec 13.

Will Broughton, trustee for professional standards at the College of Paramedics, said a mbulances were sometimes waiting three or more hours for a space in emergency departments.

Some patients forced to wait were so unwell hospital staff were coming out to begin treatment in the ambulance, he said. “They’re effectively turning the ambulance into another treatment room because they don’t have any space left,” explained Mr Broughton, himself a front-line paramedic.

This is having a knock-on effect for patients making 999 calls, who are left waiting hours for a response. “Our radios are calling for any ambulances available to deal with so many emergency calls … but there is no one left to send.”

Some patients who are “category 2”, meaning an ambulance should reach them within 18 minutes, are waiting “upwards of five hours”, he added.

The chief of the London Ambulance Service, Garrett Emmerson, told LBC yesterday that the situation was “tough” but “we are managing to cope at the moment”.

But Mr Broughton said the “reality

on the ground” is the opposite. “This is sustained, this is every day, all day, for at least the last week, if not two weeks,” he said. “We must continue to ask people to call in an emergency but ask others to consider alternatives such as NHS 111 so that we can continue to care for those who are seriously ill,” he added.

Hospitals in England saw an increase of 5,800 patients between Christmas Day and Jan 2.

Comparing the situation with that in the spring, Dr Alison Pittard, the dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “One of the downsides is that because we have been through it all before staff are very, very tired, and that is the thing that concerns me.

“We can’t just create staff overnight. We can get more drugs. We can get more beds and equipment but we can’t just get more staff, so that is the real concern this time around.”

An NHS spokesman said: “Our ambulance crews are working closely with hospital staff to ensure patients are always safely cared for and able to receive the emergency treatment they require.

“The best way to minimise ambulance handover delays is for the public to continue to follow government guidance.”