Emergency patients facing hospital delays

Regionally, London has had the worst problems, with the goal – which is not an official target – being missed in more than 45% of cases on average in recent months compared to just over a quarter at the begin of 2009.

Hospitals in the capital are only expected to meet the 15-minute goal 85% of the time but none of the 33 hospitals are achieving it.

Lizzy Bovill, of London Ambulance Service, told the BBC that the problem meant “patients wait unnecessarily on ambulance trolleys and in corridors” and prevented crews from responding to other calls.

She said: “Hundreds of hours are lost every week because of delays and it’s been gradually getting worse over the last few months.”

Queen’s Hospital in north east London had more than half of arrivals facing waits of more than 15 minutes each month since the begin of the year.

Shelagh Smith, the hospital’s emergency care manager, said: “We need to be able to cope with a surge in the number of ambulances at the hospital – at times we have to deal with up to 12 ambulances on site at once.”

The figures showed that in the East of England, the 15-minute mark was being missed in 40% of cases while the East Midlands, West Midlands and South Central services experienced delays in more than 30% of cases.

In many cases problems were apparently getting worse, with only the Great Western ambulance service – the smallest in the country – showing a year-on-year improvement though a quarter of patients were still waiting more than 15 minutes.

Jonathan Fox, of the Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel, told the BBC: “There are some horrendous delays being experienced – waits of over an hour aren’t unheard of. It means we cannot get out to attend other patients as quickly as we should and that is a risk.”

Jo Webber, deputy policy director of the NHS Confederation, which represents both hospital and ambulance managers, said: “There is no slack in the system so when it gets busy delays happen.”

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Hospitals need to ensure they have proper plans in place to deal with high demand.”

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Submited at Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 12:00 pm on Health by chuck
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