Footage shows new unit wheeled into Peterborough City Hospital to cut ambulance handover delays

Video footage of a new ward being wheeled into place at Peterborough City Hospital has been revealed, in the latest bid to cut ambulance handover delays.

The new ‘Ambulance Handover Unit’ has been set up the Bretton hospital, and was pushed into place in January.

It was installed by Vanguard Healthcare Solutions last month and is located at the back of the hospital directly in the ambulance drop off point.

The building accommodates eight trolley spaces which will act as a rapid triage assessment area. The new ward offers a ‘ready to use’ facility with clean and dirty utility, changing room, toilet, staff area and piped medical gases.

In December it was revealed that two in five ambulance patients waited one hour at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals. It is hoped the new ward will cut waiting times, allowing ambulances to get back on the road and see more patients quicker.

Chief Executive of the East of England Ambulance Service Trust, Tom Abell welcomed the new ward, and said: “Hospital handover delays are a result of complex pressures within the whole healthcare system. Ambulance handover units have been introduced at other locations in the region and help patients to be transferred to hospital care more quickly. They also allow more vehicles and crews to be released for responding to emergencies.”

Dr Bethan Graf, Divisional Operations Director for Urgent and Emergency Care, said: “The Ambulance Handover Unit is a real positive step in helping us reduce handover times and ensure a much-improved, safer experience for our patients.

"This project is just one of a series of changes and new initiatives introduced to further improve the care our patients receive on admission to and discharge from our hospitals.”

In December the Peterborough Telegraph revealed the hospital was planning to use beds at a near-by care home to deal with the increase in patients being seen at the site. The deal was set to be in place until the end of March.