Leicester: Thousands face hour-long wait after arriving by ambulance

The average waiting time for people arriving by ambulance was 38 minutes

Thousands of patients arriving at a hospital by ambulance are waiting more than an hour before being seen by A&E staff, according to a report.

Only 7,728 of 36,799 patients arriving at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) between April and October were seen within the 15-minute target.

A total of 5,811 patients had to wait for more than an hour.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and hospital bosses said they were working to improve waiting times.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the figures were included in an EMAS report prepared for Leicestershire County Council's health overview and scrutiny committee.

The report said the average time people arriving at the hospital by ambulance spent waiting in the vehicle or a waiting room was 38 minutes.

'Sickest first'

EMAS chief executive Richard Henderson said the delays were contributing to the service being "exceptionally challenged" at the moment.

He said: "The main issues currently facing the trust continue to be the sustained increase in 999 activity and significant delays in the handover of patients at receiving hospitals.

"These delays in handover impact on our ability to respond to patients in the community in a timely manner.

"Although we are still responding to activity associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, this is not now the main reason for the increase in activity we are seeing.

"The main reason for the increase more recently is the number of patients calling 999 presenting with breathing problems or chest pain or as a result of a fall."

Fiona Lennon, deputy chief operating officer for the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said wait times often depended on how sick a patient is, with priority being given to patients requiring care most urgently - including those who did not arrive by ambulance.

"Sometimes we have to take a sicker patient from the waiting room into the department rather than perhaps an EMAS patient," she said,

"What we do in the department is we prioritise the care of the patients on the sickest patients being seen first."

The hospital trust and EMAS said they were working together to lessen the strain on hospital emergency rooms.

This includes making sure patients are not taken to the emergency department if there is a more suitable department for them.