Patients waited in ambulances outside Aneurin Bevan hospitals for more than 5,000 hours in a six month period

A Freedom of Information Request (FOI) request has revealed 5,152 lost hours, when ambulances and patients were parked outside both hospitals between July and December 2018.

Usually, ambulances are crewed by at least two members of staff, meaning the total number of crew hours lost can be at least doubled.

And the stark figures show that the situation is getting worse. Over the same six-month period in 2017, ambulance hours lost outside hospitals totalled 2,987 – more than 2,000 hours less.

In comparison, the University Hospital of Wales improved over the same six month period, falling from 2,753 hours lost in 2017 to 2,484 in 2018. But though less, the numbers of lost ambulance hours are still worryingly high.

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The nationally agreed handover time – when patients should be unloaded and transferred to a hospital’s care – is 15 minutes. But figures show that this target was at best met 49.2 per cent of the time between July and December 2018 at the Royal Gwent in Newport. In September it fell as low as 39.8 per cent.

Percentages improve over the same period at Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall hospital, where the 15 minute target was met 60.4 per cent of the time in November 2018, and fell below 50 per cent for two of the six months.

The FOI, sent to the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, sheds light on the increasing pressure faced by emergency services and the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUBH).

It was sent by Eddy Blanche, who regularly visits his daughter at the Royal Gwent.

He told the South Wales Argus he had seen up to 10 ambulances parked at once outside the hospital.

His FOI request shows that the average number of ambulances on duty is 34 during the day and 33 overnight – meaning Mr Blanche has witnessed nearly a third of the ambulances available in the South East region of the ambulance sat waiting to unload patients at times.

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“The ambulance crews and staff do such an amazing job,” he said.

“But something needs to be done. I don’t know what the solution is but somebody needs to find one.

“My daughter has epilepsy, and we’ve had occasions when she’s waited two hours for an ambulance after collapsing in the road.

Mr Blanche said he put in his FOI request after he noticed welfare vans had been set up to supply waiting crews with hot drinks and toilets.

“If it’s bad enough that they have to give them a bus to have their rest in while waiting to unload patients then this is an issue that needs to be addressed now.

“When I’ve seen 10 or more ambulances sat outside, I could accept that it was just a snapshot in time. The situation could have changed within two minutes. That’s why I put in the FOI for a six month period.

“It’s scary. I’m worried that people will start dying if the problem isn’t fixed.”

Welfare vehicles were introduced in December 2018 after a trust survey found ambulance crews were worried about their welfare while delayed at hospitals.

A spokesman for the ambulance trust said: "The whole NHS system is under pressure and while it’s always frustrating to lose hours at any hospital, we recognise that the solutions are not straightforward, especially at this time of year. This is why we ask the public to use us sensibly and we are working with health boards on a range of initiatives to support caring for people at home if it is appropriate for them not to go to hospital.

“We fully acknowledge the pressures across the NHS Wales system and are working closely with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board to reduce handover delays, recognising the poor experience which an extended handover can mean for patients and the impact handover delays have on the resources we have available to deal with patients waiting for our help.

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“We have our falls team, including falls assistants, and advanced paramedic practitioners working in the Aneurin Bevan area, as well as clinicians in our clinical contact centres who are able to deal with some calls, these services mean that on occasions where it is appropriate we don’t need to send an ambulance. We monitor the handover delay situation continuously and excessive delays are escalated to senior leaders to ensure the welfare of patients and staff alike.”

Aneurin Bevan University health Board said the summer of 2018 was the busiest on record for some specialities, like trauma. A spokesman added: “Compared to other hospitals in Wales, the size of our main A&E departments at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall hospitals makes it more challenging to transfer patients into our care from ambulances at very busy times. For these reasons The Grange University Hospital, opening in 2021 in Llanfrechfa, will provide us with the capacity to deliver the highest standards of timely care for our most critically ill patients."

“During the winter months, when our hospitals become congested and our community services are stretched, it makes it more difficult for us to move patients through the hospital system as quickly as we’d like to."

“We also see more very poorly patients arriving by ambulance, as well as patients who walk in and require more enhanced care.

“We continue to work with our colleagues in the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to ensure the timely transfer of patients into our care and to release ambulance crews as quickly and efficiently as possible to respond to emergency calls in our communities.”