Bristol Royal Infirmary and Weston General have 'worst' trolley patient waits

More patients were waiting on trolleys for more than 12 hours at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Weston General than at any other hospital trust in England.

A report to health bosses stated that in February 844 people were not admitted to a bed within the acceptable time limit.

It added this "was the worst in England and the highest number of breaches since the start of the pandemic".

The health trust has described the situation as "extraordinary".

The report, produced for the board of directors at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust (UHBW), said that more than three-quarters of ambulance handovers exceeded the 30-minute target, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

The national standard is for at least 95% of patients to wait for less than four hours and states that no ambulance handover will exceed 30 minutes.

There is also an expectation that no patient will have to wait more than 12 hours in the emergency department after a decision to admit them has been made, referred to as "trolley waits".

A trust board meeting on Wednesday was told overworked staff were "exhausted to the point of tears".

There was also a risk that staff members who were being asked to take on extra duties, to help reduce the backlog of waiting lists including 386 patients waiting more than two years for treatment, could "become ill", it heard.

Members were told there was an increased risk of harm and delays for patients waiting for ambulance transfers between UHBW sites, which also include Bristol Children's Hospital, Bristol Eye Hospital and St Michael's Hospital.

The crisis was the result of a spike in Covid-19 admissions because of Omicron, record numbers of A&E visits, staff absences, a reconfiguration of the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI), and bed-blocking caused by a shortage of places for people to go who are medically fit for discharge, the committee heard.

Non-executive director and UHBW quality and outcomes committee chairman Julian Dennis told the meeting: "We've got issues with closure of community care homes which is causing us serious problems, and that is reflected in concerns we see at A&E, with numbers in A&E the highest ever recorded again.

"That is extraordinary - we were nervous when we had half these numbers and it's getting worse now. That affects ambulance handovers."

The report with February's figures said that of the 844 trolley waits [in emergency departments] in excess of 12 hours, 514 were in Bristol and 330 were at Weston.

It added: "Poor flow through the hospital has also affected ambulance handover delays, where 77.1% were over 30 minutes at the BRI."

Weston had shown some improvement, recording 45.8% of emergency handovers taking longer than 30 minutes, but that remained above the South West regional average, the report said.

It said one-fifth of the general and acute beds were occupied by patients well enough to leave.

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