The Great Western Hospital in Swindon has admitted that at least 12 patients a day have to wait on trolleys in corridors in its A&E department.
The figure has been revealed as part of freedom of information requests being sent to a cross-section of hospitals by a national newspaper asking how many patients were in casualty for more than 12 hours, 24 hours and what was the longest waiting time during 2012/13.
And the probe discovered that at least 12,000 patients spent 12 hours or more on hospital trolleys in casualty units in the last year, and another 250 waiting for at least 24 hours – one patient being forced to wait almost three days on a trolley.
The Daily Mail investigation discovered that one patient waited 37 hours at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen A&E and another for 33 hours at Ashford and St Peter’s in Chertsey, Surrey.
The Great Western Hospital in Swindon admitted that 12 patients a day have to wait on trolleys in corridors in A&E and at North Cumbria Hospital it happened 10 times a day.
Peter Carter, of the Royal College of Nursing, told the newspaper that many of those forced to wait on trolleys would be “in distress” and have nowhere else to go
“The types of people on the trolleys for days are the elderly,” he added. “These are the people who go to the back of the queue.
“While they are in distress and discomfort, they are not critically ill. It’s really distressing to think of patients in their twilight years being treated this way.”
A warning that the A&E department at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital will face severe pressure again this winter was revealed by the hospital’s Foundation Trust chairman Bruce Laurie at an NHS Forum meeting held in Marlborough in September.
He said that attendance at the emergency department had already increased substantially by 10 to 12 per cent in the past year and, worse still, the funding now available for A&E this winter was below that of last year.
The biggest pressure came from the elderly and the hospital was working successively with primary care and working pro-actively with GP practices to new find ways of helping them without the necessity of automatically going to the Great Western for help.
“That’s the daft way it used to happen – and quite frankly it still happens all over the country,” he declared. “So we’re proud of what we’ve done in successfully keeping people out of hospital.
“But on the evidence of last winter, we’re going to get a lot of older people who definitely need to be admitted. And we are very sad and dismayed to find that we don’t have the money to rectify that.
“We haven’t even had the money we had to spend last winter. Wiltshire CCG are trying to dig their hands very deeply in their pockets to see if we can have some more money. But Swindon are in dire straits and that’s going to be a real problem.”
NHS national medical director Sir Bruce Keogh has now published a report on the long-term vision for A&E, after admitting there was “a feeling that this year is worse” in terms of the winter pressures on casualty departments.
Sir Bruce said a second report, which he will produce before the end of the year, will include “some thoughts on how we can move more closely to a seven-day service in the NHS.
“It comes every year and every year we plan for winter and we focus on three areas.
“One is to try and reduce the number of people attending A&E, the second is to help hospitals function in a more efficient way, and the third is to reduce the congestion in hospitals by trying to help hospitals get their patients home.
“There is a feeling that this year is worse.”
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “People should not be stuck in A&E for hours on end and these hospitals will need to explain what has happened in these cases. We know that 95 per cent of patients are being seen within four hours despite an increase in patients year on year.
“Relieving pressure on A&E is a long-term issue which we’re determined to tackle by improving not only the care provided, but also access to care in GP surgeries and elsewhere so people don’t have to go to A&E in the first place.”
There is no mention of the report in the news section of the Great Western Hospital website, but they have issued the following statement:
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Statement from Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust This information is in not accurate and is in no way representative of the high quality care provided in the emergency department on a daily basis. The number of patients treated in ED can change greatly from one day to the next. We are open 24/7, 365 days a year, caring for people when they need us most. We have never shut our doors and always do everything we can to treat and care for our patients using the space and resources we have at the time. There are occasions when we have been extremely busy, this means we have asked patients to wait on a temporary trolley until a suitable bed is available. Any patient waiting on a trolley will have been assessed and will have a dedicated nurse caring for them and observing them until they are moved to a ward. This winter we have recruited an three extra emergency consultants and 12 extra nurses to the emergency department. The new design of the department will also help us to work more efficiently, helping to improve quality of care and reduce waiting times. For example, all clinical staff now operate from one central area, which speeds up decision making, resulting in patients being treated more quickly and efficiently. |
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