‘Perfect winter storm’ as ambulance delays hit new high

AMBULANCE handover delays have reached the worst level on record, with more than a quarter of patients left stranded outside hospitals, data show.

The figures from NHS England provide the first weekly snapshot of how hospitals are performing this winter, amid record A&E pressures, waiting lists and discharge delays.

Some 22,883 handover delays of 30 minutes or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts in the week to Nov 20, the data show. This was 29 per cent of the 79,076 arrivals by ambulance. The proportion rose as high as 23 per cent during winter 2021-22, before going on to peak at 27 per cent in early April this year.

The data is usually released from the beginning of December, but this is the first time it has been published so early in the winter season.

The figure is the highest on record, according to figures dating back to 2017.

Some 13 per cent of handovers last week – the equivalent of 10,020 patients – were delayed by more than an hour.

Martin Flaherty, managing director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), said patients are coming to harm being “forced to wait in the back of our ambulances, while our crews are stuck and therefore unable to respond to patients who need us out in the community”.

He added: “The life-saving safety net that NHS ambulance services provide is being severely compromised by these unnecessary delays, and patients are dying and coming to harm as a result on a daily basis.”

AACE’S own analysis of the delays seen in October suggests about 44,000 patients may have come to harm because of delays.

The figures come as NHS England launched a campaign urging the public to avoid A&E as much as possible this winter, and turn to NHS 111 online in the first instance.

In October, there were 2.17 million attendances at A&E departments across England. But NHS England said two in five such attendances are avoidable.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, said: “The first weekly data this year shows the considerable pressure faced by staff before we enter what is likely to be the NHS’S most challenging winter ever.”

Sir Stephen said the increase in flu cases shows the concerns about a “tripledemic” – flu, Covid and A&E pressures – are “very real”.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Health service leaders have been warning for weeks that we are now facing one of the worst winters for [decades].

“These figures really hammer home just how stretched services already are as we head into a perfect winter storm.”