Great Western Hospital ambulance wait times increase

Figures show Great Western Hospital is failing to handover patients within the target timeframe

More patients travelling by ambulance to Wiltshire's main hospital are having to wait longer to be admitted.

Figures obtained by the BBC show the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GWH) in Swindon is failing to reach the national target of handing patients over to A&E within 15 minutes.

GWH only managed to achieve the target with 17% of patients in the last six months of 2023.

A GWH spokesperson said it is working closely with crews to reduce delays.

For the same period in 2022 it was managing to admit nearly double that amount of patients - 33% - within 15 minutes.

GWH says the delays are due to a combination of factors

The NHS came up with the target as a way of getting paramedics back out on the road as quickly as possible so they can respond to additional 999 calls.

Patients are supposed to be taken out of paramedic care and into the hands of hospital staff within 15 minutes of arriving, so they can access the care they need.

GWH said the delays were due to a combination of factors, with a third of waits being down to a lack of physical capacity at the hospital for their patients, and almost a fifth of waits being down to a lack of staff.

South Western Ambulance service says it cannot reduce delays on its own

In a statement, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "Our urgent and emergency care services are currently extremely busy, which means that some patients remain in the care of paramedics while we prioritise those with the most life-threatening conditions."

The hospital said it has implemented a number of initiatives to get ambulance crews to get back on the road more quickly.

These include escalation areas and increased opening hours for same-day emergency care.

South Western Ambulance Service said it cannot significantly reduce the delays experience or resolve the current situation on its own.

"Handover delays reflect blockages in the flow of patients through the health and social care system. As such, a whole-system response is required," a spokesperson said.