Worst UK hospitals for ambulance delays – mapped

A take a look at NHS Digital’s Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Reports between January and March exhibits 131 Trusts and Foundation Trusts took in at the least 10 ambulance arrivals.

Across all of them, a complete of 227,994 hours – equal to roughly 26 years – have been wasted outdoors hospital doorways in simply three months.

In phrases of the share of sufferers stored ready over an hour – a scenario “almost unheard of in 2011” in keeping with AACE Managing Director Martin Flaherty – Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust fared worst in England, at simply over 57 p.c.

In phrases of cumulative time misplaced, nevertheless, the Truro-based Trust was surpassed by University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust. In complete, 17,030 hours have been misplaced as a result of delays there.

After Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (16,022 hours), solely Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust exceeded 10,000 hours misplaced (10,372 hours).

Mr Flaherty stated: “While we wholeheartedly welcome the priority focus politicians, the Department of Health & Social Care and NHS England have placed on handover delays during the past year – and we have seen significant improvements in some areas as a result – it is clear from the data that we remain in a precarious position.

“There is subsequently no room for complacency and considerable work for us all to continue to do to prevent handover delays, including in the devolved regions where there is also significant variation.”

The two-million hours misplaced determine was famous as being equal to 155,000 ambulance job cycles – equal to roughly a fifth of demand on crews through the yr. Beyond the implications for the affected person, that is additionally behind soaring response times.

Although handover delays had been ticking up for a decade, for the reason that pandemic they’ve elevated dramatically. Between the years to March 2019 and March 2023, the variety of hour-plus delays shot up by 521 p.c.

A spokesperson for Royal Cornwall Hospitals stated: “Last winter was among our busiest ever, with high numbers of emergency admissions and delayed discharges leading to ambulances being delayed far longer than any of us would have wanted. It was difficult for our patients and our staff.

“Over the summer there have been fewer and shorter delays, although there continue to be periods where peaks in emergency arrivals are still challenging us. The improvement we have seen is thanks to the hard work of our staff and those in community and primary care, but we all still have some way to go until we’re consistently providing the service we want for our patients.”

“As the Major Trauma Centre for the south west, we receive some of the most acutely unwell patients by ambulance. This data reflects the winter period where the local health and social care system was experiencing huge pressure.

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said: “At University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, we have a continued focus on reducing ambulance waits and we have taken a number of actions to reduce our ambulance delays. This includes investing in more staff, expanding our Same Day Emergency Care service, implementing dedicated performance support and introducing regular reviews to ensure improvement actions are put into effect.

“This year we opened a new Discharge Assessment Unit alongside our colleagues at Livewell Southwest to help release bed capacity. The unit, which has capacity for 40 beds, features a multidisciplinary team who support medically fit patients to be discharged from Derriford Hospital. This has created more space to provide care and treatment for patients waiting for elective and urgent care.

“There is also a focus on ensuring patients access the right care at the right time in the most appropriate clinical setting, which may not be the Emergency Department. In addition, we have an extensive Length of Stay Improvement Programme with a number of workstreams focusing on discharge planning and preparation increasing our ability to discharge patients when they are medically fit.

“We are sorry that there have been delays during ambulance handovers. Patient safety remains our main focus and we would like to thank our staff for their tireless efforts in responding to the pressures over winter. The Trust continues to work hard to facilitate ambulance handovers and reduce handover delays.”

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust didn’t reply to Express.co.uk’s request for remark. The DHSC deffered to the Trusts themselves.