Rutland first aider says East Midlands Ambulance delays are a "big issue"
Paramedics in the region lost almost 5,000 hours waiting to handover patients
A volunteer first-aider from Rutland says the time it's taking for East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) crews to handover patients to A&E is a "big issue."
In September alone paramedics lost 4,800 hours waiting to deliver patients to A&E, which is creating a "knock-on" effect and hampering response times.
Barbara Crellin MBE, from the Rutland Community First Responders, works in partnership with EMAS - she says the delays are preventing her team from doing their job:
"We are spending longer sitting in patient's houses or outside with patients and we are waiting longer, and that is creating a knock-on effect meaning that we can't go and attend another patient because we can't leave until we're backed up by an ambulance.'
'One of the biggest helps possibly would be if patients didn't unnecessarily ring 999 - and found their own way to hospital or spoke to a doctor or even went to a pharmacy.'
'People lower down the priority list, those who fall or are generally unwell, abdominal pain, things like that - may have to wait longer. But EMAS will still do their utmost to get us and other resources out to those who need it the most.'
'Breaking point'
It comes with Nottinghamshire NHS hospitals announcing a 'critical incident', and are unable to cope with the rising number of patients being brought to A&E.
It is the second critical incident declared within the system in three months, after one was announced in July.
Even though EMAS teams are spending 4,000 more hours outside A&E departments than they were this time last year - the delays cannot be attributed to increased activity, as the service is averaging 2,500 incidents a day, which is below what is expected.
Ben Holdaway, Director of Operations at EMAS, said: “All we are seeing is things getting worse.
“I would like to say there’s a little chink of light but from what we’ve seen in the last two weeks it’s just getting worse.”
Chair of the board Karen Tomlinson emphasised that the issue is “everybody’s problem”, not just the ambulance service.
The Government says they will introduce a package of measures that will help improve the flow in emergency departments and help reduce ambulance delays this winter.