By Tom Bodden
Daily Post
CARDIFF, Wales — Emergency ambulances in Wales waste tens of thousands of hours stuck queuing outside casualty departments waiting to hand over patients to hospital staff, it is revealed today. Some 80,404 hours (equivalent to 3,350 days or 9 years) have been wasted nationally in the last two years while ambulance crews waited to deliver their patients.
The Welsh Ambulance Service calculated that the bill for each “lost unit hour” at pounds 76, meaning that time wasted in A&E hospitals has cost the NHS over 6 million pounds in the past two years.
Standards set by health minister Edwina Hart state that the wait to hand over a patient to nursing staff should be no longer than 20 minutes, but the target is routinely missed.
The Royal Gwent Hospital was the worst performer in Wales with 15,909 lost hours; followed by Morriston Hospital Swansea with 11,962 hours; and University Hospital Wales Cardiff 9,986 hours.
In North Wales, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd Bodelwyddan totalled 3,509 hours of wasted hours; Ysbyty Gwynedd Bangor 3,209, Wrexham Maelor 2,194 hours and Llandudno Hospital 99.
Ambulances from Wales travelling across the border to the Countess of Chester Hospital logged 694 hours of excess waiting time. The delays caused distress to the patient waiting to be transferred to the A&E department, and put more pressure on ambulance crews to respond to other emergency calls in the area,” Veronica German, Lib Dems health spokesperson, said.
“These figures are absolutely shocking. This proves that there is systemic failure in the way the Welsh NHS handles emergency situations.
“Month after month, we see that Welsh patients have to wait an unacceptable amount of time for ambulances to respond to emergency call-outs and now we see that ambulances have to wait an unacceptable amount of time to transfer patients and get back on the road to respond to emergency calls,” she said.
“There is no doubt that the service has improved its own operations and has dedicated crews working extremely hard in difficult circumstances.
“But it is clear that ambulances cannot attend calls if they are queuing outside hospitals.”
A statement by the Welsh Ambulance Service said: “We are working hard with hospitals to reduce lost hours outside A&E departments.
“We are developing alternative care pathways to help manage patient demand by getting the right care to the right patient, which may not mean A&E treatment.
“However, the ambulance service and hospitals face high demand during the winter and summer holidays through flu and norovirus outbreaks and increased tourist population which can result in delays.
“People can play their part in helping the NHS free up life saving care by only using A&E and 999 emergency services when badly injured or showing symptoms of critical illness.”
The Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said: “The ambulance service receives more than 25,000 emergency calls every month, the majority of which result in an ambulance taking the patient to an emergency department. Unfortunately there will be occasions when there is delay in handing over the patient to hospital staff.”
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