Ambulances queued outside Lincoln County Hospital on Monday, February 20, 2017. Photo: Trev Green
Patients at Lincolnshire’s hospitals waited on average 30 minutes to be transferred from ambulances into care last year, twice as long as the standard set by NHS England.
A report by East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust showed that delays at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust were double the target set for emergency departments to accept patients.
Bosses at the ambulance trust said that handover and response times remain a “significant challenge”.
But, ULHT officials said the organisation has improved its patient transfer process over the past year.
The handover of patients from an ambulance to emergency hospital department should take no longer than 15 minutes, according to NHS England.
Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Reporter
But figures in the report showed that patients waited on average 32 minutes in the final quarter of 2018/19 to be transferred.
Quarterly breakdown (average handover time)
Quarter one – 30 minutes, 53 seconds
Quarter two – 27 minutes, 44 seconds
Quarter three – 28 minutes 49 seconds
Quarter four – 32 minutes, 5 seconds
EMAS officials estimated that delays in handovers lost the trust 15,829 in ambulance response hours last year.
Quarterly hours lost to handover delays
Quarter one – 4,081
Quarter two – 3,451
Quarter three – 3,735
Quarter four – 4,562
David Williams, director of operations at East Midlands Ambulance Service. Picture: EMAS.
David Williams, Deputy Director of Operations at EMAS, said: “When our crews are delayed at hospital waiting to hand over a patient, they cannot be out in the community helping other people experiencing an emergency.
“We are currently working closely with the hospitals to further improve the patient handover process.”
Chief executive of EMAS, Richard Henderson, raised concern with ULHT in February this year over delays in transferring patients.
Richard Henderson, chief executive of East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Picture: EMAS
In a letter to ULHT chief executive, Jan Sobieraj, he said the issue could cause “significant patient safety risks to uncovered emergency calls in the community”.
He added that EMAS has often had to care for patients in the back of ambulances.
“While I accept that the position within the emergency department is reflective of a far greater system issue, it remains unacceptable for patients to be held in the back of ambulances,” he said.
But, ULHT said that it had improved its handover times over the past year and that it would continue to work to decrease delays.
Lincoln County Hospital Photo: Steve Smailes/Lincolnshire Reporter
A trust spokesperson, said: “Over the last year our ambulance handover times have improved due to the work we’ve been doing with EMAS and NHS Improvement.
“We are doing everything we can to improve handover processes and the flow in and through our departments, and hope to see these times come down even further.
“At times when our emergency departments get extremely busy we can run out of space, which means ambulance crews have to wait until they are able to safely hand patients over to us.
“We always prioritise the most unwell patients, and when a handover cannot take place immediately, staff are allocated to work alongside ambulance crews to ensure those patients waiting are closely observed and any deterioration is dealt with by the most senior clinician in the department.”
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A 39-year-old woman remains in hospital a month after being found with serious injuries at a property in Spalding, but police are no longer investigating the incident.
Officers were called to a property on Cradge Bank just after 11am on Monday, April 5, where the woman was found injured and taken to hospital. Officers remained at the scene for several days.
Lincolnshire Police were trying to establish what caused her injuries and arrested three men and one woman, aged 50, 51, 55, and 48 respectively.
Cradge Bank in Spalding. | Photo: Stephen Daniels
Police said on Friday, May 7 that those arrested have been released with no further action.
The force added that it is no longer investigating the incident.
Leader of Lincolnshire County Council Martin Hill said his party retaining control of the authority was “a resounding success” for the Conservatives.
The Tory group passed the 36 seat mark, giving them overall control of the council following the local elections on May 6.
Councillor Hill said: “This means we have a manifesto which we will then deliver for the public of Lincolnshire and we have a stable situation of the county council and can continue the running of it as a Conservative council.
“Thank you for giving the Conservatives once again a resounding thumbs up, we will work hard for you and take the lessons learned so far.”
He promised to move forward on tackling potholes and fly-tipping as well as campaigning for more funding for the authority.
At the time of publication, Labour had two seats, Independents had five seats, Liberal Democrats had three seats and South Holland Independents have one seat.
A Year 9 student at Cleethorpes Academy has tested positive for coronavirus, resulting in 28 pupils now self-isolating as a precaution.
Principal Mrs Janice Hornby sent a letter to parents/carers on Thursday, May 6 and said the school is continuing to monitor the situation and is working closely with Public Health England.
The students who are self-isolating will continue remote learning at home for 10 days.
The school remains open to other students who should continue to attend if they remain well.
Janice Hornby, Cleethorpes Academy Principal, said: “We want to reassure parents that we have followed advice from Public Health England and the DfE in responding to this matter immediately.
“My senior and pastoral leaders work quickly to identify all close contacts and telephone every family to explain the requirement to self-isolate. Students are isolated in school until we contact the family.
“All students who are required to isolate will return to remote learning until we can welcome them back into school.
“We have continued to follow national public health guidance around preventing the spread of coronavirus in school. Social distancing, frequent hand washing, wearing of face coverings and regular cleaning is being rigorously practised right across the Academy, and we have robust risk assessment processes in place.
“I urge all staff and students to remain vigilant at all times and to continue to follow the guidelines to ensure that we can keep each other as safe as possible. We wish our student a very speedy recovery.”
Cleethorpes Academy is currently the only school within the Tollbar Multi Academy Trust with a case of coronavirus.
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