East Midlands A&E ambulance handover delays 'getting worse'

EMAS' director of operations said "all we are seeing is things getting worse"

Ambulance leaders say "unacceptable" waiting times outside hospitals are continuing to affect emergency response times.

The entire Nottinghamshire NHS is currently in a "critical incident" due to high demand and difficulties in discharging patients.

In September, 14,800 hours were lost due to paramedics waiting at hospitals.

The service's chief executive said he was anticipating an "extremely challenging winter".

At the East Midlands Ambulance Service's board meeting on 4 October, senior staff discussed current issues with hospital handover delays.

Despite dealing with fewer incidents per day than expected, paramedics were spending hours waiting to discharge patients into emergency departments, the meeting heard.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that non-executive director Gary Brown asked if there was any "tangible progress" on reducing the delays.

The East Midlands Ambulance Service lost 14,800 hours in September, due to handover delays

Ben Holdaway, Director of Operations at EMAS, said: "All we are seeing is things getting worse.

"I would like to say there's a little chink of light but from what we've seen in the last two weeks it's just getting worse."

But the chair of the board Karen Tomlinson emphasised that the issue was "everybody's problem", not just the ambulance service's.

Nichola Bramhall, director of quality improvement and patient safety, said the service was seeing "unprecedented levels" of serious incidents - which could often lead to the death of a patient.

Ten serious incidents were raised in September, six of which were related to a delayed response from an ambulance.

Ms Bramhall said: "We keep breaking records we really do not wish to break."

September's figure of 14,800 hours lost was 4,000 more than the same period in 2021.