Hospital probed over A&E delays
Thursday 14th May 2009, 10:00AM BST.
Health chiefs are investigating why it is taking longer at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital to hand over patients from ambulances to its A&E unit.
Ambulance crews are expected to have discharged their patients at an emergency department within 15 minutes of arrival, though 30 minutes seems to be the generally accepted limit.
However, they can face long delays when A&E units are running at full capacity and are having difficulty admitting patients to the wards.
A new report to the NHS Telford & Wrekin board says that waiting times for ambulance “turnarounds” of more than 30 minutes at the Princess Royal, have “risen considerably” since August 2008.
“There does not seem to be the same issue at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital,” says the report.
It reveals that Simon Conolly, chief executive of NHS Telford & Wrekin, has told health service watchdogs that the situation is not satisfactory from a patient care perspective, from an ambulance “release and availability” perspective, and because of the impact on patient flows throughout the hospital and social care system.
The report says that five pieces of work are being carried out to ascertain why there are delays.
This includes studies into the reasons why patients decided to go to A&E and the method of transport they have chosen, and an audit of the discharge process and hospital referrals to social care.
There is also a review of patient flow being led by the strategic health authority.
No-one was available for comment Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust which runs the Princess Royal, but last year it was revealed that the trust was being asked to teach the health service how to save patients from long waits in ambulances outside busy A&E units.
It was recognised as having one of the best records in the Midlands for enabling ambulances to meet their “turnaround” times.
By Dave Morris
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Sadly, this is a problem happening all over the country. Wales has had problems for some time which seem no nearer to a solution, and there have been dozens of reports from the rest of the UK as well.
Something – of course – that the Government’s target-led management culture has completely failed to solve. In fact, it’s probably made the problem worse for A+E staff and ambulance crews alike.
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Is this really a big issue 15 or 30 minutes. As long as you get admitted and get the correct treatment without catching MRSA does anyone really care.
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Y Mab Darogan:
Yes – it IS a big issue. Largely because an ambulance is being tied up for too long when it could be attending the next call. Doubtless if YOU had to wait long for an ambulance and it turned out to be due to a reason like this you’d soon be squealing – wouldn’t you?
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The big issue is that this is used as a way of meeting the four hour target for A & E – the four hours don’t start until you’re actually admitted.
One of the problems at the long-forgotten Staffs .General Hospital was rushing patients out into often un-staffed wards to meet the same target
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It’s not 15-30 minutes…..it can be FIVE HOURS. I’m surprised nobody’s picked up on this before now. There are not enough beds at Telford hospital to serve the population so everybody has to wait in A&E or in an ambulance outside. Somebody should ask the GPs how bad it is!
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I have personally witnessed on many an occasion staff in the A&E department at PRH standing around chatting. I have sat and waited for hours to be seen, yet the staff appear to be totally unconcerned enough to drag themselves from their comfy chairs. Perhaps a surprise visit or two to catch them out might be in order? This is not a rare occasion, I’m sure many many others have witnessed this total lack of effort or concern. Perhaps this has something to do with the ridiculous amount of time wasted before these Ambulance bods can proceed with their busy schedules and get on with the jobs THEY do so well!
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The sooner they make a £20-00 charge to visit A &E the better.This will then clear out the time wasters and free loaders. Then, and only then can the people who really need attention can be seen in a reasonable time, and the staff will not be under such great pressure.
If you need attention then £20-00 is not a problem. Many spend that amount on drinks in one night.
Let us hope there is an MP out there who would take such action ?????????
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i was at the hospital at 1 am and left at 5.30 am was not happy as i had the school runs to do so got no sleep i think something should be done about this
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My mother was found in a collapsed state on Thursday the 7th of May, I called an ambulance which arrived really quickly, we got to the hospital at 17:45 my mother was admitted to cubicles at 10:45 and finally admitted to a ward at 05:15 to following morning. The ambulance crew was exceptional and I could not have asked for better care for mum. In order to get back out on the road so that someone was left without assistance, some crews were handing their patients over to other crews and at one point one of the crews had three patients to tend, the one with my mother ended up with two to hand over. The hospital staff were also very good when they eventually got to treat mum, however how many patients are at risk of never receiving treatment due to the wait? I have no idea who is responsible for this problem, but it needs serious attention and I suspect a lot of money to resolve.
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Some interseting comments and some suprising. You kind of answer the question within your article. ‘PRH A+E used to be known for its fastest turnaround in the region’ ‘PRH is running at full capacity’. well there you go then, question answered. If the hospital is running always at full capacity then that will have a direct influence on patient throughput in the A+E dept. Last year PRH was close breaking, this year with telford increasing in size by a relative 10% then clearly hospital admissions will follow this trend ( the larger population the more admissions ). The A+E dept has the same staffing and grades as was 18yrs ago. As for John Smiths comment, be big enough to put your name on your post, theres always one! the staff in A+E do not stop working 24hrs a day under difficult circumstances. Your comments couldnt be further from the truth. Sue, your comment sums the population up really, we are all to bothered about how illness and injury is going to affect our everyday simple lives. How devastating that your visit meant you had a bad school run the day after, never mind the fact you received free treatment and unfortunately the reason you had to wait was because the staff were busy saving the lives of heart attack and car crash victims. Yes, it is a long time to wait but at least we get it in the end. If a member of my family is poorly enough to go to A+E and not wait to see the GP the next day then forget anything that is planned the next day or week, i wouldnt care, so long as they are seen and treated the rest can wait. Well done Nursing staff and Dr’s alike for keeping the Department going for this long, maybe its time for a consultant to cover the department 24hrs a day to help there overstretched and very underpaid staff.
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Well said Dr SPENCER!!!!!!!
The PRH has not grown sufficiently to meet the needs of the growing population of Telford. The wards are full, there are not enough beds, Doctors or Nurses. The situation with MAU is disgraceful ~ with patients who are sent in by their GP destined for urgent treatment in MAU being sidelined to an already over-burdened A&E and having to wait an interminable amount of time before being seen. The front page headlines in Friday’s Shropshire Star have at last brought this problem into the open.
With regard to time wasters ~ yes a charge should be levied. I once sat in A&E with a nail in my foot. I waited 7 hours to be seen and had the unfortunate pleasure of waiting with a mother who had brought her 6 year old daughter in because she had been stung by a bee. There was no sign of swelling or anaphylaxis, yet she was determined that her daughter should be seen by an A&E doctor. A charge of £50:00 in these circumstances would not be unreasonable.
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this is all because of LABOUR targets and EU beaurocracy
a conservative government would scrap targets for hospitals and cut your taxes
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My brother was taken to Telford A&E last Saturday, was admitted in a timely manner. Had tests done on the Sunday and Monday, moved to Shrewsbury on Tuesday, and had surgery on Wednesday. What better care could he have had!! The care was brilliant, I commend everyone involved.
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I recently had to wait in the waiting room with my friend after being admitted because he took a fit. The ambulance only took 20 minutes but we got to the hospital at 11:30 pm and we were waiting to be seen until 7 o’clock the next morning. We seen up to around 20 other patients some with only minor injuries come in after us and some seen within the hour, before anyone even apologized for the wait! It’s understandable that hospitals A and E’s are busy, especially on a Friday and Saturday night however it’s not the ambulance times that need improving on, it’s time management and prioritizing at the actual unit!
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