Ambulance pressures: A&E delays 'affecting patients'

Nathan Hudson said the NHS faced "continuous pressure" on its services

Bosses at an ambulance service said they were working hard to ease winter pressures on hospitals which were causing delays for its crews and patients.

Nathan Hudson of West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust said "continuous pressure" on the system "hasn't really stopped" since the Covid pandemic.

"The hospitals in this area are under extreme pressure regarding the ability to turn round our crews and therefore patients then are being affected," he said.

Mr Hudson said health and social bosses had to work together to prevent long waits outside A&Es and pressures on wards.

Mr Hudson, director of performance and improvement at the trust, said it was "doing a lot behind the scenes" to try and manage demand, such as signposting patients so they were helped by the right services.

"Social care is a particular issue sometimes, elderly care is an issue and obviously we are living a lot longer as well so it really does need a co-ordinated, collaborative approach to actually resolve the issues within the healthcare system," he said.

Work to reduce pressure on the NHS in the region over the winter has included the Think Which Service campaign. It urged people in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin to consider using pharmacy, Minor Injury Units and NHS 111 service when unwell but it was not an emergency.

Ambulance service leaders warned last week delays for people needing emergency care was putting patients at risk.

And Worcestershire Acute Hospitals and Shrewsbury and Telford were among the top 10 trusts named as being most under pressure for ambulance handovers, according to NHS data for England.

For both trusts, more than 50% of handovers took more than 30 minutes in the week up until 10 December, it showed.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, X, and Instagram, Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]