'Intolerable' levels of ambulance transfer delays across South West

Delays in transferring patients from ambulances to hospitals in the South West have reached "intolerable" levels, bosses say.

A new report from South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said it was losing about 750 hours a day in hospital handovers.

During one week, more than 70 shifts were lost daily with ambulances waiting to transfer patients.

The report said "these levels have become intolerable".

It added, "it's an absolute priority for us and for our NHS partners to reduce these delays, so crews can get back out on the road for other patients", reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

SWASFT covers Cornwall Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Bristol, Bath, North and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

The ambulance service said it had also seen an increase in demand over the last few months.

The trust says it is working with Royal Cornwall Hospital to improve handovers and ensure continuity of care.

The service recorded the longest response times for life-threatening and emergency incidents across England in September, and the latest figures show this was repeated in October.

The SWASFT performance report has been sent to Cornwall Council's health and adult social care overview and scrutiny committee ahead of a meeting next week.

SWASFT said in its report: "We are currently losing around 750 hours per day to handover delays at hospital emergency departments, compared to around 400 hours per week two years ago.

"This results in many ambulances queuing outside hospitals, and unable to respond to other emergency calls."

It added: "These levels have become intolerable and it's an absolute priority for us and for our NHS partners to reduce these delays, so crews can get back out on the road for other patients."

Demand on the service has also increased with the ambulance service saying current demand is higher than pre-covid levels with over 20,000 incidents coming in every week since May.

In 2019 and 2020 the trust had only reported two weeks with over 20,000 incidents, both of which were over Christmas and New Year in 2019.

In September this year a major incident was declared at the Royal Cornwall Hospital after "unprecedented and sustained demand" with five consecutive days with more than 3,000 incidents, roughly one every 25 seconds.

At Bristol's biggest hospital, Southmead there were 418 ambulance patient handovers that exceeded an hour last month, compared to four in September 2020.

Staff sickness and covid isolations have also limited the service's ability to increase resources to meet the extra demand, the report said.

To help meet demand firefighters across the region have been driving ambulances, an arrangement which is continuing until the end of the year to cope with demand.

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