Recent data reveals ambulances lost 25,000 hours waiting outside hospitals, impacting emergency response times and patient care.
By the end of December, over 900 patients were in beds due to flu, COVID, or RSV. That’s a 50% jump from last year! Because of this, ambulances have been stuck outside emergency rooms, waiting to drop off patients who can’t be seen quickly enough.
New data shows that in December alone, ambulances lost a staggering 25,000 hours waiting outside hospitals. That’s like 2,000 shifts for paramedics or 1,000 days! It’s a real eye-opener.
This isn’t a new issue, either. The number of lost hours has skyrocketed over the past few years, with four times as many delays compared to 2017.
These handover delays are seriously affecting the Welsh Ambulance Service’s ability to respond to community calls. Just this week, we heard about a tragic case where a 16-year-old boy died after waiting nine hours for an ambulance.
A coroner issued a report to a local health board after Jackson Yeow’s death in 2022. Even though the health board wasn’t directly involved in his care, the long wait at Princess of Wales Hospital meant help didn’t arrive in time.
To tackle this issue, the Welsh Ambulance Service has rolled out some new measures. One involves a quick clinical review of most 999 calls to ensure patients get the right help.
For those in life-threatening situations, emergency ambulances are still dispatched with lights and sirens. Meanwhile, callers with less urgent needs are triaged by control room clinicians to find the best response for them.
In some areas, advanced paramedic practitioners are now on the scene. In the Aneurin Bevan UHB area, they’re working with the health board and ambulance service to treat more patients in the community, aiming to cut down on unnecessary hospital visits.
