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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City of Lincoln Council has approved a 1.9% tax hike despite a series of cuts for 2021-22 due to the financial uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 1.9% rise will take city council’s share of council tax for a Band D property in Lincoln to £285.39 – an increase of £5.31.
The executive committee agreed on increasing allotment charges, council house and garage rents.
Council bosses predict a budget gap of £1.75 million and said it must close the hole for financial stability.
Allotment charges will also see most tenants pay between £58.70-£78.30 per year from 2022, an increase of between 38p and 51 pence per week.
Council housing rent will increase by an average of 1.5%, while council garage rents will increase by 3%.
Attendees at City of Lincoln Council’s executive on Monday.
The authority said it faces a number of ongoing challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic and requires a substantial reduction in all of its budgets.
Cllr Ric Metcalfe, Leader of City of Lincoln Council said: “It’sareasonablymodestincreaseformostpeople,andwewill support lowincomegroups stillwiththeconcessions.”
The council has saved more than £9 million annually over the past decade, however will have to increase savings by £850,000 next year, rising to £1.75 million by 2023/24.
Due to the pandemic’s impact on government funded reliefs, empty properties and business closures, the authority estimates it will only retain £5.1 million of the £42 million of business rates generated in the city.
The draft budget will go to consultation and return before the council later this year for a final decision.
There have been 372 new coronavirus cases and nine COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 325 new cases in Lincolnshire, 30 in North Lincolnshire and 17 in North East Lincolnshire.
Some nine deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in North and North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported nine new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust on Monday. Hospital deaths have now surpassed 1,000 since the pandemic started in Greater Lincolnshire.
National cases increased by 37,535 to 3,433,494, while deaths rose by 599 to 89,860.
Leader of South Holland District Council, Cllr Lord Gary Porter, put the spike down to outbreaks in two care facilities, one being a children’s care home.
A group of urban explorers who travelled from three different counties to look around derelict buildings were caught and fined in Grantham for breaching lockdown rules. Two groups of revellers in the woods near Woodhall Spa have also been fined.
In national news, Public Health England have confirmed 4,062,501 people have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Those in England aged 70 and over, as well as the clinically extremely vulnerable, will begin receiving offers of a coronavirus vaccine this week.
Ten hospital trusts across England consistently reported having no spare adult critical care beds in the most recent figures available.
It comes as hospital waiting times, coronavirus admissions and patients requiring intensive care are rising.
All UK travel corridors, which allow arrivals from some countries to avoid having to quarantine, have now closed until at least February 15.
Travellers arriving in the UK, whether by boat, train or plane, also have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test to be allowed entry.
Supermarkets face increased inspections from local councils to ensure they are COVID-secure amid a push from the government to clamp down further on coronavirus transmission.
Local governments have been asked by ministers to target the largest supermarkets for inspection to ensure companies are enforcing mask wearing, social distancing and limits on shopper numbers.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate up to January 17 according to the government dashboard:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Jan 11 to Jan 17. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, January 18
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
44,374 cases (up 372)
30,784 in Lincolnshire (up 325)
6,927 in North Lincolnshire (up 30)
6,663 in North East Lincolnshire (up 17)
1,686 deaths (up nine)
1,196 from Lincolnshire (up nine)
268 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
222 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,006 hospital deaths (up 10)
612 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up nine)
30 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
363 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)
3,433,494 UK cases, 89,860 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
Eight people were fined for two separate COVID-19 rule breaches over the weekend, after being found partying and camping near Woodhall Spa.
Officers were called to two different incidents at Ostler’s Plantation, a woodland area near Woodhall Spa on Saturday, January 16 and on Sunday, January 17.
Five people were issued with £200 fines after a report of partying at around 11.08pm on Saturday.
The next morning, police were again called to the area at 8.21am after people were seen camping at the location.
Three people were fined as a result of this, again valued at £200 due to being first time offenders.
If these fines are paid within 14 days of the offence, the cost will be cut in half to £100.
On the same weekend, but this time in a different location, six urban explorers were fined after travelling from three different counties to try and gain access to an abandoned hospital in Grantham.
The behaviour of COVID-19 rule breakers has been described as “dangerous” by Lincolnshire Police’s assistant chief constable Kerrin Wilson, who referred to them as “Covidiots”.
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