The Evening Post
BRISTOL, England — An MP is pressing hospitals to take action over ambulances being forced to waste hours queuing at local casualty departments.
Thornbury and Yate MP Steve Webb visited the Almondsbury control centre of the Great Western Ambulance Service to discuss ambulance response times following complaints from constituents.
In the last six months alone, ambulance crews have sat for an estimated 8,000 hours queuing at local hospitals. He was told by the Ambulance Trust that one of the reasons for delays is when ambulances arrive at casualty departments only to find themselves held in a queue and unable to get back out on the road to pick up other patients.
“I was shocked when I learned how many hours of ambulance time are wasted queuing at casualty departments,” Mr Webb said. “We want our ambulances out on the road getting to emergencies. This is scandalous.”
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