Claims patients are dying in queuing ambulances

Yorkshire Ambulance crews lost thousands of hours queueing outside A&Es

Paramedics are "watching their patients die in the back of ambulances because they can't get them into A&E", according to the health union, Unison.

It was commenting on data showing 2,750 hours were lost by ambulance crews waiting to hand over patients at Hull Royal Infirmary in October 2023.

One crew was stuck outside A&E for 10 hours and 27 minutes.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals said it was "confident" a new urgent treatment centre on the hospital site would "improve overall waiting times" and lost ambulance hours had "reduced notably" this month.

One ambulance waited over 10 hours to hand over a patient at Hull Royal Infirmary

The figures, obtained by the BBC through a freedom of information request, showed on 9 October 2023 ambulance crews lost 144 hours and 18 minutes, the equivalent to one crew being out of action for six full days and nights.

Megan Ollerhead, Unison's ambulance lead in Yorkshire, said paramedics were "literally watching their patients die in the back of these ambulances because they can't get into A and E."

"I talk to a lot of the people who receive the 999 calls in the control rooms and they're just listening to people begging for ambulances and they know there are none to send."

A spokesperson for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust apologised and said: "We are embarking on a programme of work to improve the whole approach to unplanned care, and this begins with the opening of a new urgent treatment centre on the Hull Royal Infirmary site.

"Once complete, we are confident this will help to improve overall waiting times in emergency care."

The spokesperson added: "Early indications for January do suggest the average number of ambulance hours ‘lost’ at hospital have reduced notably compared to the three months prior."

'Enormously frustrating'

Although October saw the biggest delays, the data from Yorkshire Ambulance Service showed more than 2,306 ambulance hours were lost in November at Hull Royal Infirmary.

Ms Ollerhead said that led to delays in dispatching ambulances to 999 calls.

"It's enormously frustrating because every hour a patient spends in the back of an ambulance is another call they can't take, and it just creates a backlog across the entire service," she said.

In December 2023, 58% of patients in Hull Royal Infirmary's emergency department waited longer than four hours to be admitted or discharged, the highest percentage in England.

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