A&E consultants: Hospitals in Wales at 'meltdown point'

These ambulances were queuing outside Wrexham's Maelor Hospital

Hospital consultants have spoken out to warn that A&E departments are at the point of meltdown and patients are dying as a result.

Almost half of the Wales' A&E consultants have signed a joint letter to new Health Minister Mark Drakeford.

It says pressure to meet financial targets has meant the loss of beds "at the expense of quality care".

Earlier this month A&E units were under intense pressure with record numbers of patients.

The Welsh government said one of Mr Drakeford's priorities was to look at ways of easing the pressures on unscheduled healthcare.

Meanwhile, the consultants warn that a lack of beds means serious overcrowding is almost a daily occurrence.

The letter, sent by the College of Emergency Medicine, reads: "Our emergency departments are at the point of meltdown. Most days, they are seriously overcrowded.

"This jeopardises safety and puts patients at risk: there is clear evidence that death rates go up if patients requiring admission remain in emergency departments for hours whilst they wait for ward beds to become available.

"Each of us has seen standards of care slipping in our departments, as we struggle to look after a dozen or more patients stuck in the emergency departments whilst waiting for ward beds, in addition to our normal workload."

They point to examples of patients coming to harm because of overcrowding:

• A patient with chest pain having a cardiac arrest whilst being seen in the eye examination room (as there was no room in the resuscitation bay)

• No space in the resuscitation bay to accommodate a baby having a severe seizure

• These pressures, they say, have a knock-on effect on the Welsh Ambulance service which is unable to respond to emergencies "when scores of ambulances are queuing outside gridlocked emergency departments".

'Speak out'

Mark Poulden, chair of the Welsh National Board of the College of Emergency Medicine, and one of the signatories to the letter, said many factors played a role in their concerns.

He told BBC Radio Wales: "We have seen this deterioration. We're all working in a very complex system. We just see the system continuing to deteriorate. We felt that we had to speak out.

"There's obviously a lot of change in the NHS but that all takes time and what we see, because of the financial squeeze, is that beds have been closed but the system is not ready for that yet.

"Whatever we need to keep those beds open is what we need. It needs to change."

Wales' ambulances have missed a response time target for life-threatening calls for the ninth consecutive month.

Statistics from February show 60.8% of emergency responses arrived within eight minutes, missing the Welsh Ambulance Service target of 65%.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "The newly appointed minister for health and social services, Mark Drakeford, has stated that one of his priorities over the next 12 months is to look at ways of easing the pressures on unscheduled healthcare - this includes out of hours services, emergency departments and ambulance services."

The consultants warn that creating a culture whereby health boards are required to achieve financial balance could lead to the same result as the Mid Staffordshire scandal.

A public inquiry report found that neglect and abuse at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2008 had led to needless deaths.

Published at the start of February, the Francis report accused the NHS of putting corporate self-interest ahead of patients.

The consultants say: "The motive behind the financial squeeze affecting hospitals in Wales is different to that underpinning the Mid Staffordshire scandal, but from our perspective, the result is the same: the pursuit of targets and financial balance at the expense of quality of care."

Wales' seven health boards are currently in the process of trying to balance their books before the end of the financial year.

The largest, Betsi Cadwaladr, predicts it may be £3.9m in debt by the end of the financial year, despite £15m of extra funding from the Welsh government.

Analysis by BBC Wales indicates other health boards are also facing similar challenges, but some are predicting they will succeed to stay within budget.

Darren Millar AM, Conservative health spokesperson, said: "This is a dire warning from Welsh NHS emergency consultants that patient safety is being dangerously compromised as a result of financial pressures.

"Axing inpatient bed numbers to save money is leading to overcrowded A&E departments, which cause ambulance queues outside our hospitals and delay them from being able to get back on the road to emergencies."

Plaid Cymru's health spokeswoman Elin Jones said: "Labour health ministers have failed to take a strong hold of the NHS and ensure that it is delivering safe services for the people of Wales.

"Clinicians, health organisations and patients have been telling us for many months that there are serious failings in the current system, and it seems that key NHS targets are routinely missed."