THERE has been a significant increase in the length of ambulance handover waiting times across the North over the past four years, and patients are potentially coming to “severe harm” as a result.
That is the conclusion of the Auditor General, Dorinna Carville, who published a major report yesterday (Tuesday) on ambulance handover times, which is the process of moving a patient from an ambulance to an emergency department (ED).
The report outlined the worsening performance of the NI Ambulance Service in meeting the target handover time of 15 minutes.
Indeed, the it highlighted how, from 2019-2020 to 2023-2024, the number of ambulance handovers taking longer than three hours rose by from 400 to 11,000.
The report also showed that in 2023-24 there were 36,000 instances when patients who may potentially have experienced harm as a result of ambulance delays, and 3,800 incidents were patients were potentially subject to severe harm.
It also found a deterioration in NIAS performance when responding to 999 calls, and an increased reliance on the use of private ambulances.
For example, in 2019-20 NIAS commissioned private sector ambulances to provide ED relief just over 20 times. However, by 2023-24 it commissioned over 1,000 private ambulances.
The report did not provide a breakdown of where these ambulances were commissioned, however it would be expected many of these private ambulances were deployed here in the local area to transfer patients from SWAH to Altnagelvin.
Since the removal of emergency general surgery from the Enniskillen hospital in late 2022, hundreds of local patients have been transferred to Derry via private ambulance.
With regard specific mention to the SWAH in the report – which is subject to a number of ‘bypass protocols’ since the removal of EGS – unsurprisingly the hospital had the lowest waiting time for handovers, with 12 percent of handovers taking longer than one hour in 2023-24.
However the Auditor General noted this 12 percent “was still twice the level recorded in 2019-20.”
Responding to the report’s findings, Ms Carville said, “Having ambulances waiting outside hospitals for lengthy periods of time is both unacceptable for patient wellbeing and a waste of public resources. Addressing this issue will no doubt be challenging.
“However, this report includes recommendations, and good practice from other regions, highlighting key areas for improvement.”
She added, “In particular, we have stressed the need for strong leadership to help break down siloed working and instill a culture that sees patients as the responsibility of hospitals and trusts when an ambulance arrives at a hospital, and not just once the handover process is complete.”
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