Derriford Hospital had the highest ambulance transfer delay time in the whole of England last Sunday [January 5], new Government figures show. The average wait time for January 5 was two hours and 55 minutes.
The average wait time for England on that day was 47 minutes. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust was one of seven with wait times of over two hours.
The figures also show it had the third worst time for ambulance transfers across the entire country for the week ending January 5. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, 61% of arrivals by ambulance had handover delays of over an hour.
The Trust declared a critical incident on January 6 asking people to attend their hospitals in emergencies only. The incident was stood down on January 9, but the hospital urged “that although the critical incident has been stood down, we continue to have many patients needing hospital care”.
Jo Beer, Chief Operating Officer at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, said: “We know that too many patients are experiencing long waiting times in ambulances, and we apologise for these waits.
“January is historically one of the busiest time periods for the NHS, and we have seen a sustained increase in the demand for our services over the last few months.
“Our colleagues have been working hard to progress our One Plan, which focusses on improving our Urgent and Emergency care and we are seeing continuous improvements but know we have more to do.
“We are working on a number of additional initiatives which we hope will enable us to improve access to Urgent and Emergency care and improve patient experience.”
Across England, more than one in five patients were stuck in ambulances for over an hour waiting to be admitted to hospital in the week ending January 5. There were a total of 96,012 arrivals by ambulance at NHS hospitals in England, according to the latest government figures. That’s at both emergency and non-emergency departments.
One in every five of those, a total of 19,554 patients, had to wait over an hour before being admitted. Patients in Cornwall suffered worse than anywhere else in the country.
Two thirds (66%) of arrivals by ambulance at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust had handover delays of over an hour. At Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the proportion was 62%, while at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust it was 61%.
In all, a total of 11 trusts across the country saw at least half of patients arriving by ambulance take over an hour to be admitted.
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust: 66%
- Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: 62%
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust: 61%
- Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust: 58%
- Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust: 58%
- The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust: 54%
- Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: 54%
- University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust: 53%
- Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: 52%
- The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust: 50%
- Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust: 50%
The average wait time on January 5 was 47 minutes. A total of seven trusts on that day had average handovers of over two hours, however.
- The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust: 2 hours 46 minutes
- The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust: 2 hours 5 minutes
- University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust: 2 hours 13 minutes
- Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust: 2 hours 41 minutes
- Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: 2 hours 32 minutes
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust: 2 hours 13 minutes
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust: 2 hours 55 minutes
Meanwhile, thousands of patients are staying in hospital for longer than is necessary. On Sunday, January 5, a total of 18,390 patients across NHS hospitals in England were deemed well enough to be discharged.
Fewer than a third of those (29.4%), however, were actually sent home. That left 12,983 patients (70.5% of the total) taking up hospital beds unnecessarily.
What can I do to help ease pressure on Derriford Hospital?
- If you have an urgent medical problem that isn’t an emergency contact NHS 111 first by phone or online
- Please use the Emergency Department if you have a life-threatening emergency. Please be aware that the service, like the wider NHS and local health and care system, is very busy.
- If you have a friend or family member in hospital please help them to come home as soon as they are ready. Talk to the ward staff about the support available to help them be discharged, including one off grants.
- The Urgent Treatment Centre at the Cumberland Centre in Devonport is open every day to treat you if you have an injury which isn’t life-threatening but requires urgent treatment
- For emergency dental care, contact your usual dentist, or contact NHS 111 by phone or online and you will be provided with details of your local out of hours service
- If you have any symptoms of a winter bug such as flu or norovirus please stay at home, particularly avoid people who are more vulnerable such as hospital patients or care home residents.
- If you don’t have symptoms of an infectious bug and you have an appointment do please attend unless you are contacted.
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