Two thirds of ambulances stranded outside Northampton A&E
The Accident and Emergency entrance at Northampton General Hospital which has been sealed off.
TWO-THIRDS of the ambulances assigned to cover the south of the county were stranded outside A&E at Northampton General Hospital on another busy day for the overloaded emergency department, a patient has claimed.
Tom Peterkin, of Hackleton, followed his partner to NGH where she was taken by ambulance after suffering chest pains.
However on arrival, he saw a total of six patients, including his partner, on trolleys with paramedic crews and who could not be handed over to overrun A&E staff.
Mr Peterkin said: “The paramedic told us there were nine ambulances on duty for the Northampton area at the time, so that was two thirds of the available crews unable to go anywhere. They were monitoring us, which was the right thing to do, but it was ridiculous that she was taking up their trolley and equipment so they couldn’t go to another 999 call.
“There were even St John Ambulance volunteers there with patients, so that shows you how busy the ambulance service must have been.
“Who is responding to emergencies when they are stood around through no fault of their own?”
The problem of “stacking” patients on trolleys in NGH corridors was first publicly acknowledged last year at an inquest, where a consultant admitted the practice happened regularly because staff could not deal with the volume of patients arriving at A&E.
Ambulance chiefs also revealed in December last year that on a particular day in 2011 there were queues of ambulances outside East Midlands A&E departments totalling 1.6 miles.
Mr Peterkin’s partner was admitted last Monday, traditionally the busiest day of the week for emergency doctors as people often injure themselves at the weekend then present to the hospital a day or two later when they realise they cannot go to work.
East Midlands Ambulance Service yesterday admitted six ambulances were at A&E at one time on that day but pointed out that there were also several fast response cars, which carry a single paramedic. on duty. EMAS has for years sub-contracted St John Ambulance staff for 999 calls at busy periods.
Mr Peterkin, whose partner has now recovered, said: “They ought to have more hospital staff whose job it is to take on the patient and release the ambulance crew. It seems like a problem caused by a growing population. Surely this should have been seen and planned for a long time ago.”
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
SteveWonder
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 07:51 PM"Many of those whom do volunteer for SJA are NHS staff in there spare time", THAT is exactlly what people are worried about.
ryanwil
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 06:48 PMSJA is a business not a charity and the staff who attend in this situation are nearly all paid staff not volunteers (although they do often help the paid crews). 999hound you almost would sound like your know what your talking about except it's a total load of rollocks. Whilst SJA does have contracts around the country to transport the clinically ill to appointments, (or if you knew anything you would understand is called Patient Transport Service), it's involvement when the NHS Funded ambulance is struggling to meet demands is predominantly to respond to the life threatening calls. SJA ambulance crews are NOT first aiders, they are training Patient Transport Assistants for the clinically ill, and emergency crews are highly trained Emergency Transport Assistants, qualified nurses and paramedics. These are trained to and above the level in which the NHS expects from Health Care Professionals it subcontracts. A Nurse or Paramedic is as competent as the next working for another firm, they have degree's in the profession.The training SJA provides its Ambulance crews with is respected world-wide by the medical authorities, it's only the British public who seem to be so arrogant towards their actions when they actually know so little. Many of those whom do volunteer for SJA are NHS staff in there spare time.
SteveWonder
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 10:29 AMhear hear 999hound. I fully agree with all you have said. but the A+E ambulance service should and could be fully staffed by existing full time ambulance paramedics. getting volunteers in and subcontracting to expensive private companys is the thin edge of the wedge
999hound
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 07:57 PMLady Muck you are quite correct - cars are only used within the ambulance service to stop the clock. They then wait on scene for hours for an ambulance to transport the patient to hospital. No good if the patient is seriously ill ! What everyone is missing is that there is nothing wrong with A&E. The problem lies elsewhere in the hospital. If a patient is not able to move onto a ward, then they are blocking a bay or bed in A&E. Making A&E bigger just buys the hospital a couple of extra spaces. Until wards are staffed and reopened it will continue. A&E and ambulance staff do an incredible job with very little resources. St johns are used to transport clinically stable and often prebooked GP calls and are not sent to 999 life threatening emergencies.
SteveWonder
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 09:18 PM“There were even St John Ambulance volunteers there with patients, company ............................even more insidious, EMAS subcontract A+E responsibility to a private ambulance service. I know this because they arrived at my door. they were ok but why pay market rates for subcontracted relief staff ( expensive ) when you have an enourmous pool of perfectly qualified paramedics that would work extra hours gtiven even modest inducements.
lady muck
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 07:28 PMSomething is seriously wrong with the operation of A & E. To simply respond that fast respons cars are available, is to avoid the issue...these cars cannot transport a seriously ill or injured patient to hospital.
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