East of England: Hour-long hospital wait for one in seven ambulances

Tom Abell, East of England Ambulance Service Trust chief executive, said there had been increased staff absences

One in seven ambulances have waited more than an hour to hand over a patient to hospital, a meeting was told.

The board of the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) also heard 75% have waited longer than the 15 minutes handover target.

Hospitals said admissions and staff absence from Covid have caused issues.

EEAST chief executive, Tom Abell, said the service had "been under really significant pressure".

In a written report to the trust, the board said delays continued "to impact on the number of patients who had come to harm".

Data reported to the meeting suggested there had been 15 "serious incidents" in November where "delayed attendances" led to patient harm, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

'Resilience and willingness'

Mr Abell told the meeting the service had "seen a significant activity increase over the course of the autumn and significant demand from our communities".

He said: "In the last month or two we have also seen the impact of the Omicron wave of Covid which has seen an increased level of absence within our workforce, people have been self-isolating or catching Covid."

The chief executive said Covid infections had a "knock-on impact in the wider health and care system" leading to hospital handover delays.

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He said he was working with the region's hospitals and health leaders to "understand what it is that we can do to support handover delays and support the resilience of the urgent and emergency care system".

Mr Abell praised his staff saying they had been "absolutely fantastic in terms of the resilience they have shown and willingness to help".

The meeting was told more than 100 extra call handlers had been recruited and advanced paramedics are in control rooms to prioritise patients and suggest other services if appropriate.