By Record NHS wait times continue to rise with ‘immense pressure’ for emergency services
As the year progresses, people faced increased wait times for ambulances, and waits in A&E and ward beds, following a pressure-mounting July report.
The reports from last month, state that 532 people waited for more than 12 hours in A&E, at North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust, following their admission, which is up from a figure of 502 in June, the figure was significantly lower in July 2021, with just 10.
A total of 13,560 people arrived at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust’s A&Es in July, up from 12,899 in June. 37.9% of people arriving in A&E waited more than four hours in June.
The average response time for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, for a category 1 call, was 10 minutes and 21 seconds, which is above the target of seven minutes. The response time in June was nine minutes and 30 seconds.
Ambulances responding to Category 2 emergency calls, were taking 44 minutes and 44 seconds in July, from an average of the necessity of 18 minutes. In June, 90% of urgent calls to Yorkshire Ambulance Service were arriving within five hours and 19 minutes, compared to five hours and 25 minutes.
July saw the worst performance for A&E since records began in November 2010, as 71% of people attending emergency departments waited less than four hours to be admitted, discharged, or transferred.
A total of 29,317 people waited more than 12 hours in A&E to be admitted to a ward last month. In July 2019, 452 people waited more than 12 hours for admission.
Dr. Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants committee chair, said the situation in emergency departments in early summer is resembling the darkest winters.
He said: “These latest statistics are truly dire and show the scale of the challenges faced by the NHS and its staff, and the worrying impact this is having on patient care.
“Workforce shortages, staff absences, and a lack of capacity in social care to discharge patients into, all combine to create an unsafe environment for patients with doctors and their colleagues facing impossible dilemmas.
“Staff is doing their absolute best but the odds are completely stacked against them, and working at this level of intensity is completely unsustainable.”
The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch found that demand for services, availability of beds, and patient flow through ‘acute hospitals’ affected the ability of ambulances to hand over patients to emergency care.
In July, NHS staff dealt with 85,397 Category 1 ambulance callouts, and the average response time for a Category 1 call was nine minutes and 35 seconds, above the target of seven minutes
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “Today’s figures show the immense pressure our emergency services are under with more of the most serious ambulance callouts than the NHS has ever seen before, at levels more than a third higher than pre-pandemic.
“Recognising the pressure on urgent and emergency care services, we are working on plans to increase capacity and reduce call times ahead of winter in addition to our new contract with St John to provide extra support as needed.”
