More than 32,000 people may have come to harm 'due to ambulance delays'
More than 32,000 people in England may have come to harm in just one month due to ambulance handover delays, NHS chiefs have warned.
The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) also said the number of patients potentially forced to endure mammoth 10-hour waits in the back of an ambulance, unable to be offloaded to hospital staff, has doubled in a year.
Senior ambulance officials said delays in handing over patients should not be 'the new norm'.
Ambulance handover delays occur when ambulances arrive at A&E but are unable to hand patients over to staff due to units being busy.
This also means paramedics are unable to get back on the road to attend to other patients.
More than 32,000 people in England may have come to harm in just one month due to ambulance handover delays, NHS chiefs have warned. Pictured ambulances queueing outside of a A&E department in Bolton
A handover delay does not always mean a patient waits in an ambulance, however.
People may have been moved into the A&E department, but staff were not available to complete the handover from paramedics.
National guidance states that patients arriving at an emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the care of A&E staff within 15 minutes.
NHS data shows two thirds of ambulance handovers in May (66 per cent) took over this time.
Anna Parry, managing director of AACE said: 'AACE has consistently warned that there is no room for complacency over the frequency and length of the hospital handover delays that our latest data shows continue to cause significant harm to patients and the wellbeing of ambulance employees, while depleting vital ambulance resources.
'This is why one of our key requests of the new government has been that they proactively support the ambulance sector’s aim to ensure patients universally receive high-quality, timely care and no longer experience unacceptable delays in response or handover of care, for example, at hospital emergency departments.'
Data from AACE suggests ambulance hours lost to hospital handover delays of more than an hour are now 10 times greater than they were five years ago.
Ms Parry said: 'Delays of 30 minutes and over increased by 7,000 between April and May 2024 to reach 104,000, the sixth highest volume to date, while just under 500 patients experienced handover delays of two hours or longer, every single day of May 2024.
'Worryingly, 148 patients experienced handover delays of 10 hours or more in May 2024, more than double that of May 2023.
'We estimate 32,000 patients experienced potential harm as a result of hour-plus handover delays in May 2024 and during the same month the sector lost the equivalent of 101,000 ambulance job cycles, where thousands of patients could have been attended.
'This broadly equates to 16 per cent of all face-to-face ambulance responses across the month and is clearly unsustainable.'
Ms Parry said a 'strong focus on prevention and providing more care closer to home, away from hospital emergency departments, would have a particularly positive impact on reducing – and eventually eliminating – hospital handover delays.'
The latest NHS data shows that average ambulance response time for category one calls, those for the most serious life-threatening illnesses or injuries was 10 minutes and 8 seconds. The target time is seven minutes.
Response time for category two calls, for emergencies, like severe burns, epilepsy and strokes, was 32 minutes and 44 seconds. This is more than twice as long as the 18 minute target.
The Department of Health was contacted for comment.
