NHS delays worsen with ambulance waits of 40 hours

New analysis shows that over 10,000 ambulances each week are caught in queues of at least an hour outside accident and emergency units in England.

 

Paramedics have warned the problems were causing patients severe harm.

 

Both A&E waits and ambulance response times have hit their worst levels on record in all parts of the UK in recent months.

 

In Cornwall, patients facing emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks are now waiting for longer than two hours on average for an ambulance.  The target is 18 minutes.

 

A key problem is the delays ambulances face handing patients over to A&E staff.

 

The College of Paramedics said crews were facing a “perfect storm”, with the queues outside A&E preventing them reaching patients who need a 999 response.  Tracy Nicholls, College chief executive said “We all know patients are coming to harm and in some cases severe harm.”

 

She added that government and local health chiefs’ attempts to tackle the problems were “not really making a dent” in the delays and the system was facing gridlock.

 

Even when patients are admitted into A&E, they face long waits for a bed on a ward, with hospital bosses blaming a shortage of beds and problems discharging patients back into the community.

 

Experts believe these problems are contributing to the high levels of deaths being recorded – 700 more deaths are being seen each week than would be expected.

 

A spokesman for the Department of Health said an additional £500m was being made available to speed up hospital discharges and free up space in A&E, creating the equivalent of at least 7,000 more beds this winter.

 

He added “This will be supported by an additional £6.6bn in the NHS over the next two years to enable rapid action to improve urgent and emergency care performance towards pre-pandemic levels.”

 

Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers have years of experience in medical negligence claims, providing support and guidance after life-changing events.  Not only do we represent clients in Yorkshire, but because of our reputation we also represent clients nationally.

 

If you believe that you or a relative may have been injured as a result of clinical/medical negligence, please call for free legal advice from our medical negligence solicitors on the freephone number below.

 

Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

 

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