Ambulance crews waste one month stuck at hospitals

Published on Friday 25 February 2011 13:07

AMBULANCE crews have spent the equivalent of a month stuck in hospital bays in the last year when they should have been available to respond to emergencies, it emerged today.

Figures show the "turnaround" time for emergency vehicles at Lothian's four main hospitals was significantly longer than the 15-minute guideline.

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary was the worst offender, with 36,000 wasted minutes, followed by the Western General and St John's Hospital. The Sick Kids Hospital was also hit by delays, at 5400 minutes.

Patient groups said the situation had to improve, especially given that other areas of the ambulance service worked well, but ambulance chiefs said because the job of a paramedic has become more complex, it should not be a great surprise that they have more involvement at the hospital end.

Unions added that paramedics were already working flat out.

Dr Jean Turner, director of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "This is something that has to be improved. We can't have ambulances backed up at hospitals when they should be out responding to emergencies.

"There is plenty of concern about response times, maybe the same attention should be paid to this."

The ERI has repeatedly been one of worst hospitals in Scotland for turnaround, partly down to the fact it has the busiest accident and emergency unit in the country.

The Scottish Ambulance service said that while the 15-minute turnaround was not a formal target, it was "an indicative standard against which we review".

It means across the Lothians the average time is 24 minutes, while on some occasions it has taken more than five hours for a vehicle to return to the beat.It is a situation that has worsened over the years, and smaller hospitals, such as the Royal Edinburgh psychiatric facility in Morningside and Liberton Hospital, are also affected.

David Forbes, Unison's regional organiser for ambulance workers, said: "One thing I know is that ambulance workers in the Lothians are knocking their pan in just now to provide a good service."

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: "We work closely with hospitals to transfer patients from our care to hospital staff as quickly and effectively as possible.

"Both ourselves and A&E departments are dealing with increasing demand, and ERI A&E is the busiest in Scotland.

"Ambulance crews work closely with A&E staff throughout the admission process, rather than just dropping off."

There has been concern surrounding turnaround times with the ambulance service since 2009, with sources blaming the hospital depots themselves, given that Lothian's ambulance response times are, in general, very good.

Jackie Sansbury, chief operating officer for acute services for NHS Lothian, said: "We work very closely with our colleagues at the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure we are able to provide the best possible service for our patients."