Gwent ambulances lose 20,000 hours waiting to transfer patients

The delays amount to hard pressed paramedics having lost 868 days - or more than two years - of time when they could have been back on the road responding to other emergencies.

And the cost to the NHS in Wales of delays at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals between January 2009 and October last year is more than £1.5 million, with the Newport hospital being Wales' worst performer during that period, in terms of lost hours at patient handover.

Lost time is anything above the 20-minute target set for transferring responsibility for a patient to nursing staff. During the 22 months detailed, 15,909 hours were lost at the Royal Gwent, and 4,928 hours at Nevill Hall.

More flexible use of ambulance or A&E trolleys has been introduced, to allow patients to be seen in rapid assessment bays more quickly, and a touch-screen system enables ambulance crews and A&E staff to monitor handovers more closely.

Long delays in handovers had been falling, but A&E departments are having to cope with increased numbers of patients, and the effect of delays further along the hospital system tend to filter back to A&E and a backlog of patients.

In these circumstances, it can be difficult to achieve speedy handover times.

The figures were revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Welsh Liberal Democrats. Wales-wide, more than 80,000 hours were lost at handover - that is 3,350 days, or nine years. After the Royal Gwent, the most hours were lost at Morriston Hospital, with almost 12,000.

The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust puts the cost of a lost hour at £76, so over the 22-month period, £1,515,668 was lost due to handover delays at Gwent hospitals alone.

2These figures are absolutely shocking. This proves that there is systemic failure in the way the Welsh NHS handles emergency situations," said Veronica German, shadow health minister and Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for South Wales East.

“Ambulances have to wait an unacceptable amount of time to transfer patients and get back on the road to respond to emergency calls. I will be raising this very urgent matter with the First Minister and the health minister to ensure the hard work of the emergency services is not thwarted by poor organisation and poor management of our NHS.”

'Only call 999 in an emergency'

AN ambulance trust spokesman said the trust is working hard with hospitals to reduce lost hours, with schemes such as alternative care pathways, which could see treatment other than in Accident and Emergency (A&E).

He added that people can help ease the burden by only using A&E and calling 999 when people are badly injured or showing symptoms of critical illness.

No-one from Aneurin Bevan Health Board was available for comment.

The board has invested considerably in improving A&E at both the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall in recent times, with electronic boards on which handovers can be monitored having been installed.

A minimum of 70 per cent of handovers should be completed inside the target time however, yet average performance at Gwent's two biggest hospitals remains between 50-60 per cent.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Who will stop 999 delays?

FOR several years now we have highlighted the problems of ambulances waiting at the Royal Gwent Hospital to deliver patients.

Today we reveal the cost of this ridiculous situation in terms of lost hours and money, According to figures revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, the Royal Gwent has lost 15,909 hours, giving it the worst record in Wales.

Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital is sixth with 4,928 hours.

That’s a staggering 868 days lost in the space of just 22 months.

Three years ago we told how there was an issue with different sized trolleys used by the ambulance trust and hospitals, however, this seems to have been resolved.

Now, the sheer volume of 999 calls is being blamed although we would like to know why there has been an increase in recent years and why more people are now dialling 999 instead of making their own way to hospital or even just seeing their GP.

Experts say anywhere between 30 and 40 per cent of 999 calls are not actual emergencies.

Of course, people’s first instinct when they have what they think is an emergency is to call 999, that is just a natural reaction.

But it seems that it is these calls that are causing the backlogs we are now seeing on a daily basis.

So who is to blame and what is the solution?

There will be much made politically over why but whatever your view it is simply unacceptable that ambulances waste so much time between transferring patients and getting back on the road.

One of the solutions to how to reduce these lost hours may lie with the public.

The Welsh Ambulance Service says calls should only be made when people are badly injured or showing symptoms of critical illness.

However, we don’t believe people will do this when faced with what they perceive to be an emergency situation.

It seems the solution could be much more difficult than any of us think.