Concerns raised over ambulance handover delays in County Durham and Darlington
Concerns have been raised over ambulance handover delays in County Durham and Darlington after reports some patients waited up to three hours to be treated in hospital.
Concerns have been raised over ambulance handover delays across Durham and Darlington after reports some patients waited up to three hours to be treated in hospital.
A meeting yesterday saw health officials questioned on what the NHS is doing to reduce the waiting times and protect patients in more rural areas.
Concerns have been raised over ambulance handover delays after patients waited up to three hours to be treated in hospital.
Health officials in County Durham and Darlington were questioned on what the NHS is doing to reduce the waiting times and protect patients’ health.
Councillor Anita Savory told a health and wellbeing scrutiny meeting how rural residents have been impacted by the delays.
“In my community where I live in Weardale I get so many stories about patients being taken to hospital and waiting two or three hours before they were off the trolley and seeing somebody,” she told the meeting on Tuesday.
“When the ambulances are backed up at Durham and Darlington there may be patients requiring ambulances and somebody’s life is at risk. It really needs addressing as a priority.”
Ambulance handover delays occur when ambulances arrive at A&E but are unable to hand patients over to staff due to units being busy. This means paramedics are unable to get back on the road to attend to other patients.
Cllr Savory added: “It seems as though the need to go to hospital is greater and the clinicians are having to work extra hard. I know those sometimes on shift don’t get a break, and that really needs addressing.
“When a patient is taken to hospital and there’s a need for them to be seen as soon as possible, how can that be improved?”
Sarah Burns, director of local delivery at the NHS North East and North Cumbria, said the handover delays have fallen but more work needs to be done.
“We have reduced, quite significantly, the delays in ambulance handovers. It does happen occasionally and there is immediate escalation to a very senior level to make sure there is intervention and everything is being done.
“But it’s also worth thinking about how we can support people in the community, and if they don’t need to go to hospital, how services can be wrapped around people and support them at home.”
A handover delay does not always mean a patient waits in an ambulance, however. People may have been moved into the A&E department, but staff were not available to complete the handover from paramedics.
National guidance states that patients arriving at an emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the care of A&E staff within 15 minutes.
An analysis of NHS data shows more than three-quarters of people who visited A&E departments at hospitals in County Durham and Darlington in May were seen within four hours.
There were a total of 25,650 visits to A&E at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in May. Of them, 19,665 were seen within four hours – accounting for 77 per cent of arrivals, above the national average.
Meanwhile, 2,270 patients waited longer than four hours, including 25 who were delayed by more than 12 hours.
The overall number of attendances to A&E in May increased by 11 per cent compared to April, and seven per cent more than May 2023.