A pilot scheme aimed at decongesting overcrowded A&Es has “fundamentally” improved how quickly patients are taken out of ambulances at Lincoln County Hospital.
However, some patients up for discharge have been left sat in chairs rather than beds while they wait for their paperwork.
Breaking The Cycle, which United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust began on November 7, attempts to take patients out of emergency departments and into wards whether there is a bed space available or not.
It also uses risk assessments to discharge some patients earlier than usual to help balance the pressures of different departments. This can, however, lead to patients sitting in other areas of the hospital while they wait.
Health services nationwide are regularly missing targets for the amount of time it takes for an ambulance to respond, or for the time patients are in A&E departments.
A report before United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust board on Tuesday noted that in October 59.76% of patients spent four hours or less in the department. The trust has a target of 83.12%.
A total of 1,020 ambulances were delayed by more than 59 minutes.
ULHT Chief Executive Andrew Morgan told the board that health services continued to be under “significant operational pressure”.
However, he said the new scheme was “key” to helping both the ambulance service and the services’ own front door.
“The reason this has been done is to both decongest the A&E and the consequence of that is that we can unload ambulances quicker.
“People are not waiting in the back of ambulances so long, and equally as a system this allows those ambulances to get back on the road, to pick up those patients in our communities who are waiting too long on occasion.”
Dr Maria Prior, from Lincolnshire Healthwatch, picked up on a “small number of concerns”.
Chief Operating Officer Simon Evans said there was a “potential for patients to have a poorer experience because they move out of a bed space earlier than they do now and they might have to wait in a chair in a ward environment for longer.”
However, he said: “Overall, this is a much better experience for all of our patients because the consequence of not doing it is that a patient may wait for a prolonged period of time in an emergency department without the specialist team that they require.”
He said there had been an “overwhelmingly” positive response from emergency departments.
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A Lincoln resident is frustrated with vehicles parking on single yellow lines on Lincoln High Street, while the county council says the current regulation order means it’s unable to enforce the area properly, despite signage saying cars cannot park there.
Richard Bridgen has been living off Riverside Drive in Lincoln for around five years now, and over recent months he has noticed a particular trend around parking on a section of the High Street, which can impede his view as he tries to turn from Gaunt Street.
Lincoln residents in the Boultham area have become increasingly hesitant to report crime, citing concerns that the shortage in police staffing will lead to a lack of response.
Lincolnshire County Councillor Kevin Clarke (Labour) reports being contacted by multiple residents in the last few months who have suffered break-ins at their homes or gardens. Despite these incidents, they claim to have received minimal support from Lincolnshire Police.
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