Survey: England’s NHS Crews ‘Watching Patients Die in Ambulances’ Due to Delays

LONDON (The Guardian) – Paramedics across England are watching patients die in the back of ambulances because of delays outside emergency departments, according to a survey by Unison.

The gridlock of patients in some of the country’s hospitals has led to queues of up to 20 ambulances outside casualty departments in certain areas. In a number of cases, crews have been forced to wait more than 12 hours before handing over patients.
The survey of nearly 600 ambulance workers reveals the toll of the waits on patients and the crews looking after them. Unison warns that “car park care” is increasingly becoming the norm, with hospital medical staff tending to patients in the back of ambulances.
More than three-quarters (77%) of paramedics and emergency medical technicians said they have had to look after people in the back of ambulances in the past year while stuck outside emergency departments. Two-thirds (68%) have waited in hospital corridors, or in other locations, with one paramedic often caring for several patients to allow colleagues to respond to other calls.
More than two-thirds also reported patients’ health deteriorating during long waits, and one in 20 (5%) announced people have died in their care because of long delays in being admitted.
The target for ambulance crews to hand over patients to emergency departments is 15 minutes, with no handover meant to take longer than half an hour.
The survey of 588 staff in February and March shows about one in seven respondents (16%) have waited outside emergency departments for 12 hours or more. At least half (53%) have experienced delays of longer than six hours.
The survey findings are released as health workers assemble in Liverpool for the union’s annual health conference, which starts on Monday.
One respondent to the survey said, “Hearing the broadcast from dispatch, pleading for anyone to respond to a category 1 call [those classified as life-threatening and needing immediate intervention] and knowing none of us queuing at the hospital can assist due to handover delays, is both heartbreaking and demoralizing.” Another added, “Spending a full 12-hour shift queuing outside hospital is soul destroying.”
In total, ambulances spent more than 1.5mln hours – equivalent to 62,500 days – stuck outside A&Es waiting to offload patients in the year to November 2024, according to an investigation in January.