AMBULANCE FIGURES EVIDENCE OF SYSTEMIC FAILURE - LAMB

9.17.00am GMT Tue 4th Mar 2008

Responding to reports that hospitals may be keeping patients waiting in ambulances in order to meet accident and emergency treatment targets, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said: "This is evidence of shocking systemic failure in our emergency care services.

"As well as thousands of patients being stuck in ambulances when they should be getting urgent treatment, there will be countless others left waiting longer for ambulances to arrive.

"Ultimately, ambulances are at the mercy of hospitals who are not taking patients due to cripplingly overcrowded wards. Pressure to meet the four hour target may also be causing hospitals to block new patients coming in until existing ones are cleared. If this is the case then that would be a scandalous distortion of practise to meet a target which is meant to improve the service.

"I am writing to Alan Johnson calling for an urgent investigation of the impact of hospital overcrowding and pressure to meet central targets on the emergency services ability to get patients to hospitals on time."

Notes

New figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats in a Freedom of Information request to Ambulance Trusts show that:

Almost half of ambulance call outs surveyed (45%) did not meet departmental guidelines that handovers should take no longer than 15 minutes.

Over 10% of call outs took 30-60 minutes to hand over patients.

In London, the average turnaround time was over half an hour.

Some areas saw huge delays: in the East of England, 80% of handovers were delayed by 15 minutes, with almost half of handovers delayed by 25 minutes.

Handovers in some areas were delayed by over 2 hours.

Ambulance Services: Standards

A parliamentary question from Norman Lamb to the Department of Health is below.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what national targets exist for the handover times from ambulances to accident and emergency departments.

Mr. Bradshaw: Departmental guidance makes clear that under normal operational circumstances handovers should take no longer than 15 minutes. This is guidance, not a target or a standard. While the Department recognises there may be periods when operational pressures mean this is not always possible, trusts should ensure their escalation plans include robust action to manage their handovers.