One in four ambulance patients still waiting over 30 minutes for A&E handover
Some 9% of patients had to wait more than an hour to be handed over.
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Your support makes all the difference.One in four hospital patients in England arriving by ambulance are continuing to wait more than half an hour to be handed over to A&E teams, according to the last of this season’s weekly snapshots of NHS performance.
The figure is down from around a winter peak of one in three patients, but suggests health services are continuing to face pressures from high demand and a shortage of beds.
There are also hundreds of people still in hospital with seasonal viruses, with the number of flu patients more than three times the total at this point last year.
NHS England publishes weekly situation reports for hospitals from November to March every year, including data on bed occupancy, NHS 111 calls, ambulance handovers and virus cases.
The latest report – the final one for 2023/24 season – shows that 26% of patients arriving by ambulance last week had to wait at least 30 minutes before being transferred to A&E staff, the same level as the previous week, but down from 30% in mid-March.
The figure climbed as high as 34% in late January.
Some 9% of patients had to wait more than an hour to be handed over – again, the same proportion as the previous week, but down from 15% at the end of January.
Handover delays of new patients can reflect a shortage of beds on wards, which in turn is affected by delays in discharging people who are medically fit to leave hospital.
We know the colder months are always a time of increased pressure, which is why we started planning for winter earlier than ever before
An average of 12,015 hospital beds per day last week were occupied by people ready to be discharged.
This is down from 13,131 the previous week and is the lowest average since the end of December.
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said the data collected during this season’s situation reports show “how hard staff across the NHS have worked this winter in the face of significant demand and ongoing industrial action, with more than 1.7 million people taken to hospitals by ambulance since the week ending November 26 – 260,000 more than the same comparable period a year ago – and 7.2 million calls answered by NHS 111, hundreds of thousands more than last winter”.
He added: “We know the colder months are always a time of increased pressure, which is why we started planning for winter earlier than ever before – including putting more ambulances on the roads, employing more call handlers, and opening hundreds more beds – and those measures have paid off.
“While the data shows numbers continue to come down, seasonal viruses are still a concern. As ever, we encourage anyone who needs medical care to seek help in the usual way: NHS 111 online for urgent advice, and by calling 999 in emergencies.”
An average of 837 people with flu were in hospital each day last week, including 35 in critical care beds.
The total is down 19% from 1,037 the previous week, but is still more than three times the average at this stage last year, which was 274.
Hospital flu cases this winter peaked at nearly 2,500 in early February – a lower level than last year, when the number topped 5,000 in what was the worst flu season for a decade.
The figures for patients with other seasonal viruses are also continuing to fall.
An average of 532 adult beds were filled last week by people with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms, down 4% from 553 the previous week and some way below the peak of 688 in late January.
In addition, an average of 1,394 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 were in hospital last week, down week-on-week from 1,558.
Covid-19 patient numbers this winter peaked at 4,245 in early January – some way below last winter, when they topped 9,000.
Rory Deighton, acute network director at the NHS Confederation, the membership organisation for the healthcare system, said: “It is clear now that while we are seeing welcome improvements in performance, the NHS is still under immense pressure on the back of a very difficult winter.
Our members know this improvement is fragile and the health service needs the right support and resources if it is going to be prepared for next winter
“This was the second worst winter on record with unprecedented ambulance handover delays and waits for A&E.
“So while NHS leaders and their teams have worked incredibly hard to improve on last year, no-one is under any illusions that performance is where it should be and this must not become the new normal.
“Our members know this improvement is fragile and the health service needs the right support and resources if it is going to be prepared for next winter.
“This is why we are calling for more capital investment, a commitment to the NHS workforce plan and an equivalent plan for social care.
“Otherwise the health and care system will not be able to manage the rising demand of an older and sicker population.”