Paramedic UK » delays

Patients face delays over A&E treatment in Hampshire

Editor — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:26:51 +0000

Hundreds of patients have waited more than four hours for emergency hospital treatment, new figures reveal.

In two months, 671 patients – an average of 11 a day – waited longer than the government-set target time in our area.

Breaches have more than quadrupled from the 119 recorded in the same period last year.

Trust managers have now nominated special ‘queue nurses’ who take patients from ambulance crews, freeing up the paramedics to return to duty.

They are also working with South Central Ambulance NHS Trust who are using a ‘split crew’ system in which only one worker stays with the patient.

This means their partner can team up with another ambulance and reduce the number of vehicles queuing outside the hospital.

via Portsmouth Today .

Family’s concern over 999 response to call

Editor — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:19:08 +0000

A disabled pensioner lay on the floor after a fall for more than three hours after 999 operators said he was not a priority, his family have said.

Kenneth France, aged 76, from Kingsley, who has dementia and cannot walk unaided after two minor strokes, is confined to his armchair.

He fell at about 11.30am on Friday and his wife and carer, Annie, was unable to pick him up.

She dialled 999 to ask help from an ambulance crew but, after telling the operator that he had not broken any bones and was not bleeding, she was told by a triage nurse he was not a priority case.

Read full article: Family’s concern over 999 response to call – Northampton Chronicle and Echo.

SCAS: we need volunteers to hit waiting times

Editor — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:41:52 +0000

Key ambulance waiting times will only be hit if members of the public attend to some patients first, a health chief has said.

A South Central Ambulance Service boss said it could not get to 75 per cent of seriously ill patients within eight minutes without peoples’ help.

It is offering to train residents as “community first responders” who would attend some cases, such as heart attacks.

Read full article: Bucks Free Press.

Patients wait in parked ambulance

Editor — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:56:30 +0000

Injured patients are waiting in parked ambulances for longer than an hour outside a North Somerset hospital as doctors struggles to cope with demand.

Weston General Hospital has revealed 14 incoming emergency patients in March were left to wait more than two hours, and on one occasion waiting more than three hours.

Hospital bosses have defended the figures, claiming they are dealing with an increasing number of arriving ambulances, but admit urgent work needs to be done to solve the problem.

Read full article: The Weston Mercury

Hospital Disaster Potential Highighted

Editor — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:20:52 +0000

Factors that lead to emergency department overcrowdings, ambulance diversions and other incidents that endanger patient safety have been revealed.

A study published in BioMed Central’s open access Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine has shown that reductions in the number of hospital beds and downsizing or closure of emergency departments may create a dangerous loss of ‘surge capacity’.

Read full article: Medical News Today

Patients ‘are put at risk by deliberate A&E delays’

Editor — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:53:43 +0000

The lives of seriously ill patients are being put at risk every day because Government targets are forcing ambulances to wait up to five hours outside hospitals.

Thousands are being left in car parks, holding bays and corridors before being admitted to accident and emergency waiting rooms.

Critics last night blamed the failures on Labour’s strict targets, which state that 98 per cent of those admitted to A&E must be treated within four hours.

Read full article: Mail Online.

Ambulance delays caused by reliance on Sat-Nav systems

Editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:12:57 +0000

A leaked memo from the boss of NEAS ambulance service revealed delays have been caused by crews relying on hi-tech Sat-Nav systems.

The memo, sent out by Paul Liversidge, director of ambulance operations in the North-east, admits the delays and urges the use of old-fashioned A-to-Zs to back up the directions.

Read full article: Gazette Live

Elderly ‘left on A & E trolleys’

Editor — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:37:29 +0000

Concerns have been raised for the welfare of elderly patients left on hospital trolleys for hours while they wait to be taken back to care homes.

A consultant at Ninewells in Dundee has said too many pensioners are taken to A & E at night when they could be treated in their care home by a nurse or GP.

Dr Bill Morrison said some spend several hours on trolleys while they wait for ambulances to take them home.

He said often the patient had been in hospital for a minor problem.

‘More humane’

A patient transport service does not run at Ninewells overnight so patients often have to be taken back to their care home by ambulance.

If the ambulance is at an emergency it can be some time before it can collect the patient, who could be admitted to a short-stay ward or put on a trolley.

Read full article: BBC NEWS.