Association of Ambulance Chief Executives. Taking stock: Assessing patient handover delays a decade after zero tolerance (14 September 2023)

Summary

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) has published a new report charting the major increase in the frequency and length of hospital handover delays over the past ten years, calling for an even greater focus on improvements that will reduce and eradicate delays, prevent more patients from coming to significant harm and stop the drain on vital ambulance resources.

Content

The new report reveals:

• In 2011, around 20% of handovers were exceeding the expected 15-minute target, with delays over an hour seldom.
• In 2017-18, 53% of handovers were taking longer than 15 minutes and 3% were taking longer than an hour, with patients waiting in the back of ambulances or in corridors, before they were being accepted into the care of their local hospital.
• In 2021-22, 61% of handovers were taking longer than 15 minutes and 8% were taking longer than an hour.
• In 2022-23, 68% of all hospital handovers throughout the NHS were taking longer than 15 minutes and 14% were taking longer than an hour, with many stretching for several hours, causing much harm to patients and damage to the wellbeing of the ambulance crews caring for them.