Rural people face hospital delays, councillor says

Ambulance handovers have fallen, an NHS official said

Concerns have been raised over ambulance handover delays, after patients waited up to three hours to be treated in hospital.

Health officials in County Durham and Darlington were questioned on what the NHS was doing to reduce the wait times and protect patients’ health.

Independent councillor Anita Savory said she had heard several stories from her rural constituency in Weardale about patients being taken to hospital and waiting two to three hours before being taken off the trolley.

An NHS official said handover delays had fallen in the region, but more work needed to be done.

At the council's health and wellbeing scrutiny meeting on Tuesday, Ms Savory said backed-up ambulances could put peoples' lives at risk.

"It really needs addressing as a priority," she said.

National guidance states that patients arriving at an emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the care of A&E staff within 15 minutes, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Director of local delivery at NHS North East and North Cumbria Sarah Burns said delays in ambulance handovers had reduced dramatically.

"It does happen occasionally and there is immediate escalation to a very senior level to make sure there is intervention and everything is being done," she said.

It was also worth thinking about how people could be supported so they did not need to go to hospital in the first place, she added.

An analysis of NHS data shows about 77% of people who visited A&E departments at hospitals in County Durham and Darlington in May were seen within four hours.

This is above the national average of 74.4%, according to the latest figures from NHS England.