Many patients in Leicester were left waiting in ambulances over the holidays, highlighting ongoing issues in the healthcare system.
In total, there were 1,371 ambulance arrivals that week, and about one in eight had to wait more than an hour. This situation was pretty much in line with the national average, but it’s still concerning. The goal is for 65% of handovers to happen within 15 minutes, and 95% within 30 minutes.
Things got worse during New Year week. Out of 1,355 ambulance arrivals, 491 patients waited over an hour. That’s more than one in three! The national average for that week was one in five, so you can see how it was a rough time for many.
The average wait time for patients was one hour and eight minutes, but it spiked to one hour and 44 minutes on December 30. The East Midlands Ambulance Service (Emas) was under a lot of pressure, even declaring a critical incident for the first time ever. Flooding didn’t help, but delays outside hospitals were a big part of the problem too.
After about 36 hours, the critical incident was lifted, but Emas stayed on high alert. Their deputy chief executive, Will Legge, mentioned that the NHS in the East Midlands is quite fragile right now.
Patients inside the emergency department weren’t faring much better either. In December, only 59.2% of patients were seen within four hours, compared to the national average of 71%. Plus, 953 people spent over 12 hours waiting to be admitted after a decision was made.
Discharge delays were also an issue. On December 29, nearly half of the 265 patients ready to leave couldn’t. The same happened on January 5, with only 145 out of 324 patients able to go home. Across England, about 70% of patients who were fit to leave were still occupying beds.
Gang Xu, the Acting Medical Director at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said they’re feeling the pressure this winter. More people are showing up at the Emergency Department, and bad weather has made things tougher. He urged everyone to only come to the Emergency Department for genuine emergencies and to consider other options for non-urgent issues.
