‘40,000 put at risk last month’ while waiting in ambulance

More than 38,000 patients were put at risk of harm during March – more than 4,000 of them seriously – while they waited in an ambulance outside hospital, according to estimates shared with HSJ.

The number of hour-plus delays to handing over patients from ambulances to emergency departments in March was the highest ever recorded, following steep increases since last summer.

Figures collected by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), and shared with HSJ, reveal that one trust recorded a delay of 23 hours during March. 

Based on its detailed information about the length of handover delays, AACE has produced an estimate of the likely number of patients harmed while waiting to he handed over, using a model initially developed in research published last year. This found 85 per cent of those who waited more than an hour could have suffered potential harm.

The AACE report said that patients who waited the longest were at greatest risk of some level of harm and the risk of severe harm tripled for those waiting for more than four hours compared with waiting for 60 to 90 minutes.

AACE managing director Martin Flaherty told HSJ: “We expect the situation to be no better when we collate our figures for April.

“The most significant problem remains hospital handover delays which continue to increase exponentially, with tens of thousands of ambulance hours being lost due to hospital handover delays, causing enormous knock-on effects out in the community, where delays in people receiving the ambulance resource they need are the obvious result.

“However, the human cost, in terms of direct harm that is being caused to patients through these combined delays at hospitals and in the community, as well as to the health and wellbeing of our ambulance crews, is substantial."

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Source: HSJ, 29 April 2022