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Ambulance queues reduced by new A&E - paramedic

Alastair Fee
Health Correspondent, BBC South
PHU Aerial shot of the outside of Queen Alexandra's emergency department. It has a brown facade with drop-off bays outside.PHU
The new emergency department at Portsmouth's QA Hospital was opened in time for the peak winter months

Problems with ambulances queuing outside a major hospital have improved since its new emergency department opened, paramedics have said.

The building at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital opened its doors in November.

Some patients previously told the BBC they had been forced to wait outside the hospital in ambulances for hours because of delays.

But Nigel Young, a paramedic with South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), said the situation is getting better.

Nigel Young, a man with a grey beard, grey hair and glasses. He is wearing a green NHS paramedic uniform. He is standing in a warehouse and about six ambulances are parked behind him.
Paramedic Nigel Young has been known to spend up to 10 hours waiting outside the QA with his patients

"Queuing is much resolved lately, I'm not sure its completely fixed, but it does mean we can hit the priority calls that we've been missing," he said.

The paramedic, who has 14 years experience on the road, said he had previously spent entire shifts sat outside the hospital.

"I've come in at a four and there are no vehicles here because they're all at the QA.

"So we've taken a car and a couple of crews, and we've relieved crews that have finished, and I've spent the next ten hours sat at the QA."

Fiona Meredith About a dozen ambulances waiting outside the Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth. It is night time and all the lights are on in the hospital.Fiona Meredith
In the past, ambulances were forced to queue outside the hospital when the emergency department became too busy

In the past few years, the QA has declared a number of critical incidents when its wards and emergency department became full, leaving ambulances queuing outside waiting to hand over their patients.

But the new £58m department promised a "better experience" for patients, with hospital bosses dubbing it a much-needed investment.

It replaced the old A&E, which had been in use since the late 1970s and had a smaller capacity.

Graeme Judge, a SCAS emergency care assistant, admitted waiting with patients was often tiring: "You've got to encourage them, they need help, they're in the right place but we're still queuing outside."

Two male paramedics walking on a residential road outside a yellow and green NHS ambulance. They are wearing green paramedic uniforms and carrying medical bags. In the background is a bungalow. The ambulance has "emergency ambulance" written on it.
The crew says they face new pressures, including a rising aging population

In February, the BBC spent a shift on the road with Mr Young and Mr Judge.

On this day, about half of all patients who received an ambulance were taken to the emergency department.

The crew said a lot of their callouts were for urgent care, rather than emergencies.

"It's really due to the lack of GPs available to patients to get appointments and other stuff that has pushed on to us," Mr Young added.

"We go to a lot of falls, there's nothing else in the community that is going to lift someone off the floor, it comes down to us."

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has been approached for comment.

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