Paramedics' time wasted by long handovers, former doctor says

A former doctor with 20 years' experience has said paramedics are "having their time wasted" waiting to handover patients at hospital.

Dr Barbara Skew said it took 14 hours for her to be admitted to Southmead Hospital in Bristol on Monday after suffering a dislocated hip.

She said she had never seen her former hospital so busy.

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said it was under "extreme pressure".

Dr Skew said it took seven hours for an ambulance to reach her and a further seven to be admitted to hospital.

"I had quite a long time to talk to the very charming and efficient crew that took me in, and they are not happy," she said.

"They are having their time wasted horribly because they can't offload their patients."

Dr Skew said in her view, the problems "starts beyond" the hospitals.

"Despite assurances from the government that they will fix care, there is no provision at the moment to get people out of hospital into a lower dependency, but still care, environment," she said.

SWASFT is already investigating several deaths relating to delays caused by hospital handovers.

That includes the death of Kenneth Shadbolt from Chipping Camden in March.

The 94-year-old had to wait more than five hours for an ambulance to arrive at his home after a fall.

Richard Carpenter, 71, from Bromham, Wiltshire, was also "let down massively" when he died at home in December after waiting more than five hours for an ambulance, according to his wife Jeanette.

Vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Ian Higginson, said: "We are basically all overwhelmed.

"What that means in practical terms is if you call for an ambulance, it may not come as quickly as you need or you might expect.

"Patients are waiting days and days just to get a hospital bed."

He said there had been a "surprising lack of comment" about the situation from those responsible for leading and managing the service.

SWASFT is urging the public to only call 999 in the event of a life-threatening emergency.

With the current heatwave due to peak on Sunday and into next week, it has also advised people to stay out of the sun at the hottest periods of the day.

A spokesperson for the service said: "As a result of a sustained demand on our service, our Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP) is at Level Four - which represents 'extreme pressure'."

Ambulance bosses said more hospital beds and care home places were needed as more than 1,000 hours of work time was lost while patients waited to be handed over to emergency departments in Gloucestershire in one week.

Patients are experiencing handover waits, on average, of more than an hour and 12 minutes when they should be transferred into care within 15 minutes.

SWASFT chief executive Will Warrender said handover delays remained their biggest challenge.

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