Walsall Manor Hospital ambulance delays hit 120 in month

A total of 129 ambulances were delayed for more than 30 minutes outside the hospital in February – including 21 who were left waiting for more than an hour.

That means 425 people have been stuck in queues outside the town’s hospital during the first two months of the year.

The trust is set to be fined a total of £41,600 for the breaches in February.

Walsall’s Conservative group leader Mike Bird said the problem needed tackling both in Walsall but also across the country.

He said: “I think this is a national problem which affects us locally.

“More resources need to be put in and the resources we have got need to be used more wisely.

"Having people sitting outside in ambulances obviously isn’t good when they need to be treated, but it also means that the ambulances can’t be used for anyone else.

“It is totally unacceptable for the people of Walsall – and people nationally – suffering from ill health to be waiting in ambulances outside hospitals.”

Hospital board papers say: “The number of delayed ambulance handovers significantly reduced in February to 129 compared to 296 in January, of these the number delayed by more than one hour also reduced to 21 from 37.”

Bosses also said in the report that its A&E performance had ‘very slightly improved’ in February – with 82.81 per cent of patients seen within the four-hour target time. This was up from 82.68 per cent in January.

But that is still well down on the national target which is to have 95 per cent of patients seen within four hours.

Patients arriving by ambulance are supposed to be formally ‘handed over’ within half hour – 15 minutes to clinically transfer the care of the patient and 15 minutes for the crew to make the ambulance ready for the next person.

The trust is fined £200 for every 30 minute breach and £1,000 for every 60 minute one.