Ambulance turnover delays among worst ever in Black Country and Staffordshire

The NHS was under enormous pressure, with the queues of ambulances seen across England in recent weeks likely caused by the surge in Covid cases and reduced capacity according to a health think tank.

It comes after a Black Country hospital chief said he had seen the "worst ambulance turnover times I have ever seen" in recent weeks

NHS England figures show 1,242 patients arrived at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust's A&E departments in Stafford and Stoke by ambulance between December 21 and 27.

Of these 143 having to wait between 30 and 60 minutes and 44 had to wait even longer. The busiest day was Christmas Eve, when 40 were waiting at least half an hour.

At New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton a total of 913 arrived at A&E in ambulances in that week – with 111 waiting between half an hour and an hour, and 91 waiting even longer. The busiest day was Boxing Day, when 53 were waiting at least half an hour.

Figures show 733 patients arrived at Russells Hall Hospital's A&E in Dudley by ambulance – with 70 having to wait between 30 and 60 minutes and six waiting longer. The busiest day was Christmas Day, when 30 were waiting at least half an hour.

At the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Sandwell General and City Hospital, a total of 979 patients arrived at A&E in that week – with 65 having to wait between 30 and 60 minutes, and three waiting longer. The busiest day was December 21, when 16 were waiting at least half an hour.

While at Walsall Manor, 634 patients arrived by ambulance – with 16 waiting between 30 and 60 minutes, and one patient waiting longer. The busiest day was December 22, when four were waiting at least half an hour.

And at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs four hospitals including Queen Elizabeth, 2,486 patients arrived by ambulance – with 370 having to wait between half an hour and an hour, and 170 having to wait longer. The busiest day was December 21 – when 147 were waiting at least half an hour.

National guidance says patients arriving at an emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the care of A&E staff within 15 minutes. A delay does not necessarily mean the patient waited in the ambulance itself – but staff were not available to complete the handover.

Speaking at a recent meeting, Professor David Loughton, chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: "I have watched TV and you see queues of ambulances and again, from my organisation, I’ve seen the worst ambulance turnover times I’ve ever seen in the last couple of works. Part of our winter surge plan is to put nurses in corridors in A&E and nurse patients in corridors to release ambulances to get back on the road to answer 999 calls.

“We can’t do that now because it’s unsafe to put patients in corridors because you don’t know who’s positive and negative. We test every patient and it takes time for the results to come back.”

Helen Buckingham, director of strategy at the organisation at the Nuffield Trust think tank, said: “The queues of ambulances that we have seen are likely to be the result of both the surge in Covid cases and reduced capacity in hospitals caused by staff shortages and infection control measures."

An NHS spokesman said: “NHS staff are now caring for record numbers of seriously ill Covid patients requiring hospital treatment. But they are doing so while also caring for substantially more emergency patients with other conditions than were in hospital during the first covid peak in April.

"The pandemic has required changes to the way the NHS delivers care, with hospitals having to split services into separate Covid and non-Covid zones, so to protect individual patients some beds and ward bays have to be taken out of use."