Patient Waits 5 hours 26 minutes to be handed over by Ambulance staff to Hospital staff

16 April 2012

Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-

“Below are 2 Assembly Questions and Answers on Ambulance downtimes i.e. the time spent by an ambulance crew from when they arrive at an A & E department with a patient till they have handed over the patient to the care of hospital staff. The answers relate to February 2012, taken as a random sample month.

“Some of the answers across the Province are quite staggering. It will be noted that the turnaround time at RVH in 30% of cases was over 45 minutes and in one case was 3 hours 20 minutes. At the Ulster Hospital again in took over 45 minutes with 30% of  patients and in one case a mind-boggling 5 hours 26 minutes passed before the unfortunate patient was signed into the care of hospital staff.

“In my own local area 10% of deliveries to Antrim Hospital took over 45 minutes, with one patient waiting 1 hour 40 minutes and another at the Causeway waiting almost 2 hours.

“Taken on top of trolley waits these are appalling figures, adding both to the anxiety for patients and taking ambulances out of service for unacceptable periods.

“I am left to wonder if there is deliberate delay on occasions in signing in patients so as to temper the official waiting statistics of the hospitals. Either way, these are disturbing and alarming figures which speak further to the crisis in our health service.”

Question:

Answer:

For the purposes of this question, ambulance downtime has been taken to refer to the turnaround time measured from when an ambulance arrives at an A&E department until it has ‘cleared’ the location. This includes patient handover to relevant clinical personnel and making the vehicle ready for the next call.

Ambulance turnaround times during February 2012 are as follows:

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