Long delay in ambulances for Peterborough hospital patients but service is hitting performance targets

The average wait spiralled to two hours and 20 minutes between December 12 and 16, before remarkably going down to nearly 30 minutes the following day.

National guidance says patients arriving at an emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the care of A&E staff within 15 minutes.

The East of England Ambulance Service Trust declined to explain why the handover delays were so bad for a short period last month, but said it works “closely with our hospital partners on a daily basis to make sure patient care is transferred safely and as quickly as possible”.

It added: “Hospital handover times fluctuate daily depending on demand across the NHS.”

In a report to members of Peterborough City Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, the ambulance service said it was performing well in Peterborough.

But it added: “This performance is affected this winter by the pressures from handover delays at the hospitals and the national state of emergency as a result of Covid-19. We continue to work collaboratively with system partners to overcome challenges.”

The report adds that the main challenges in Peterborough include delays at A&E and rising demand on the 999 service, including an increase in primary care conditions.

It continues: “Hospital delays can and do significantly impact upon EEAST’s ability to provide a sufficient response. As ambulances are held at emergency departments more and more on-the-road resource is lost and it is quite common that when this occurs, after bringing in available temporary support from the next nearby resources, we will be forced to hold 999 patients in queue for allocation once an available resource becomes clear at handover.

“Within EEAST we continue to work with the CCG (clinical commissioning group) and acute colleagues at all levels to reduce the impact of these delays as much as possible.

“Hospital Arrival Liaison Officers (HALOs) are deployed at Peterborough City Hospital 12 hours per day, seven days a week. They help provide a smoother transition of flow for patients and support at times of delay and increased demand, and act as the conduit between the trusts to identify barriers to timely patient handovers.

“These are currently in place and funded until the end of the financial year but are subject to funding to be agreed between the Ambulance Commissioning Consortium and the trust.”

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough City Hospital, launched the NHS 111 pilot at its Emergency Department in September.

This requires patients to seek a medical referral to A&E or have to go through a triage service to see if there are more suitable options for treatment.

NHS England figures show that of the 881 patients who arrived at the trust’s A&E units by ambulance between December 21 and 27, 147 had to wait between 30 and 60 minutes, and 66 had to wait even longer.

The trust also has an A&E department at Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

Meanwhile, the ambulance service has also revealed that so far in the current financial year it is hitting all national performance standards in Peterborough for response times to patients.

This is in contrast to its performance across the region over the past few months.