A patient waited in an ambulance for almost two days before being admitted into a hospital's emergency department, it has been revealed. The Welsh Ambulance Service's chief executive Jason Killens said handover delays are becoming increasingly frustrating for staff and the public alike but admitted there was "no quick fix".
It has emerged that it took ambulance crews 41 hours to transfer the care of one patient over to A&E staff at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend on Monday, September 26. The target time is 15 minutes, however this is consistently not being met due to emergency departments being severely overcrowded, resulting in a severe lack of vacant beds.
A report by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) found that of the 185,000 ambulance handovers to emergency departments between April 2020 and March 2021, less than half of them (79,500) met the 15-minute target. During that period there were also 32,699 incidents recorded where handover delays were in excess of 60 minutes, with almost half (16,405) involving patients over the age of 65 who are more likely to be vulnerable and at risk of unnecessary harm.
