Long A&E delays faced by ambulance patients

Figures have shown that before being seen by A&E staff, thousands of ambulance patients in England are facing long delays, with the number of waits exceeding an hour nearly trebling in the last two years.

It should be possible for ambulance crews to hand patients over to A&E staff within 15 minutes of arrival and NHS bosses have blamed the problem on “increasing demand”.

The delays occur when there are no members of staff available for patients to be handed over to, meaning ambulance crews have to wait with the patients and leaving the ambulance unavailable for 999 calls.

Although paramedics have said that the most severe cases could be prioritised, these latest figures demonstrate the increasing pressures on the system.

Unison’s Christina McAnea said the delays were occurring due to A&E units being “overwhelmed”.

She said “There’s a national crisis in the ambulance service because of an extreme lack of funding across every part of the NHS”.

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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