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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We can now confirm that the 12-year-old who died in the collision at Branston on Sunday (16 January) was Ted Vines, from Alford.
In a tribute to Ted, his family said:
“Ted was loved by everyone – he was happy, fun and brilliant and had so many people who loved him.
“On Sunday, he was on his way to play football for Alford Under-12s at Branston, as he was a part of that team.
“Everywhere he went, Ted made friends. He was a special part of the community for everyone.”
The family are being supported by loved ones, friends and specialist officers at this time. They request privacy from media while they grieve their loss.
Plans for a series of business units and offices to the north of Beevor Street in Lincoln are set to be approved next week.
The City of Lincoln Council’s Planning Committee will be asked by officers to approve Lincoln Western’s plans for a total of 21 units on the site as well as outline plans to build two further office buildings nearby.
The main site, to be called Foundry Park, will also include new access roads, 43 initial car parking spaces, cycle parking, landscaping and two areas for sustainable drainage systems.
In a report before members next Wednesday, officers will say the site is allocated in the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan as for “strategic employment” and the principle of the build is acceptable.
“The developments would make effective and efficient use of land and would reflect the architectural style of the local surroundings,” said the documents.
Site layout plans for the business units which are up for full approval.
The build will break down into one large building containing a unit of its own and four others, each split into five units.
Although due to come back before planning at a future point for confirmation, the planned office buildings are designed to be four-storeys high.
Officers said that although there was initial concern over the height, the applicants were able to convince them it was “not unusual to see taller buildings at the edge of the urban area” and that there were a number of comparable buildings in the wider area.
The applicant’s plans for office buildings are only at outline stage at the moment.
The application has received an objection from a nearby business around potential noise issues, however, officers raised no objections, only asking that further noise assessments be carried out when the office plans returned to the council.
Lincolnshire County Council has also asked for £25,000 contribution from the applicant to be used towards upgrading pedestrian facilities on Beevor Street and Tritton Road as well as a Hirebike station within the site.
Fire crews have been tackling a house blaze in Skegness on Monday which caused the road to be closed.
Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue were called to reports of a house fire on Wainfleet Road in Skegness at around 11.50am on Monday, where it was discovered that the property was “well alight”.
Everyone inside the property was accounted for but people in the local area were asked to keep their windows and doors closed.
Lincolnshire Police requested for traffic management on Wainfleet Road, which as of 3.50pm is still in place.
The Lincolnite has contacted Fire & Rescue for an update on what caused the fire and when the situation will be resolved.
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