Ambulance handover delays unacceptable - NHS chief

Ambulance crews in a single week faced more than 1,800 hours of delays in handing over patients to a hospital trust's A&E departments, according to a report.

The figures from February emerged at a board meeting of the NHS trust that runs Royal Stoke and Stafford's County hospitals, and were branded "unacceptable" by chief executive Simon Constable.

The board of University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) also heard that during another week last month, ambulance patients faced an average handover time of more than two hours.

Members heard the trust had continued to face challenging winter conditions since critical incidents were declared in December and January.

Mr Constable, at the latest board meeting on Wednesday, said there had been "a really difficult few weeks".

He said: "As we went into winter there has been problem after problem ever since."

Factors that "dented" resilience included infectious diseases including flu, Covid, RSV and norovirus.

He said: "While there are external factors, there are a lot of things we need to fix from an internal point of view."

Ambulance holds – or handover delays – saw 1,729 hours lost in the week commencing 27 January and 1,806 hours lost in the week commencing 24 February, he said.

That figure fell to 936 hours lost in the week commencing 3 March, the meeting heard.

Mr Constable said: "There has been a significant improvement. That's the best figure we have had since December. But that is still unacceptable."

The trust has brought in an urgent and emergency care recovery director to help improve performance and there is an improvement plan in place.

Actions have included standing down non-urgent elective work where possible to increase capacity.

Outpatient appointments were also stood down to allow emergency department teams to provide support, board papers said.

Work is taking place to increase the number of patient discharges to free up bedspace, and an extra 50 beds have opened at community hospitals.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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