'Significant increase' in ambulance handover delays at hospitals in West Midlands
There has been a 'significant increase' in ambulances handover delays at hospitals experienced by West Midlands Ambulance Service crews, a new report says.
National guidance states that paramedics should be able to hand patients over to A&E staff within 15 minutes of arriving at hospital.
A new report to the board of directors at WMAS, which was meeting virtually on Wedmesday, says the service's crews lost more than 18,196 hours waiting longer in January, compared to 11,822 in January last year.
It also says that almost 70 per cent of arrival-to-handover times during January this year were "out of target".
Another report to the board by Mark Docherty, executive director of nursing and clinical commissioning, and Dr Alison Walker, executive medical director, said: "The issue of patient handover delays shows no sign of improvement and the impact of this means we are keeping patients waiting for very long periods for an ambulance response.
"The lost hours for the year to date peaked in October 2021 when there were in excess of 15,000 lost hours due to handover delays over 30 minutes; this is the highest number of lost hours ever experienced by WMAS.
"In February 2022 we experienced the second highest level of lost hours due to handover delays (pro rata taking account February has less days in the month)."
WMAS lost 12,091 hours due to handover delays exceeding 30 minutes last month.
That included more than 330 hours at Sandwell Hospital, 598 at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, 48 at Walsall Manor Hospital and 582 at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.
Richard Beeken, chair of the urgent and emergency care board within The Black Country and West Birmingham Integrated Care System, said: “We are sorry for any significant delays for patients. We know that ambulance response times remains the biggest clinical challenge in our system.
“All staff are working hard to treat patients safely and minimise ambulance handover delays.
"Trusts across the Black Country and West Birmingham continue to work closely together, share good practice and standardise approaches, to make sure we are doing all we can to keep patients safe, when emergency departments become very busy.
“The public can help NHS services by ensuring they are vaccinated against flu and Covid-19; take precautions to prevent transmission of infection; seek medical help when needed and not delay until health conditions are critical; and access the right service.
"If you are not sure of the best place to go, visit NHS 111 online for advice. If it is a life-threatening emergency, call 999.”
In December, WMAS reported that it had dealt with a sharp increase in the number of 999 calls.
Over the five days from December 24 to 28, the trust took 22,826 emergency calls compared to 19,467 in 2019.
