Ambulance lost hours could hit record numbers this month, warn worried bosses
Ambulance handover delays could reach their worst ever level this month with bosses warning crews will spend nearly 50,000 hours waiting outside hospitals.
West Midlands Ambulance Service's trust board will meet next week, where members will be given stark details about the crisis gripping the service.
Currently it is estimating crews will have spent 48,000 hours in July waiting to hand patients over to hospitals across the region – with a warning that the number of people suffering "serious harm or death" increasing every month.
The pressure on the ambulance service has been increasing steadily since last summer.
Delays to crews at hospitals have led to increasing numbers of incidents where patients have been left waiting for ambulances and have suffered further harm or death as a result.
The situation is being driven by difficulties experienced by hospitals in admitting patients – in turn impacted by a lack of social care places to discharge patients and free up space.
In July 2020 crews lost only 3,927 hours waiting outside hospitals across the West Midlands – with that figure set to hit nearly 50,000 this month.
A report from Mark Docherty, Executive Director of Nursing and Clinical Commissioning, and Dr Alison Walker Executive Medical Director, outlines their concerns over the severity of the situation.
It states: "The issue of patient handover delays shows no sign of improvement and the impact of this means we are keeping patients waiting for very long periods for an ambulance response.
"The lost hours for the year to date continue to peak each month and we are predicting 48,000 lost hours for July 2022."
The report adds: "As a result of long delays, the number of serious incidents involving serious harm or death is increasing every month."
