More Than 1-Hour Waits Not Unusual

THE WELSH AMBULANCE SERVICES TRUST has consitently failed to meet target response times in the past year.  A review of ambulance responses just for Class A emergencies – immediately life-threatening – disclosed that the last time they met the Welsh Government's target of 65 per cent of ambulances arriving at the scene within eight minutes was last achieved last May.

Worse is the number of incidents where the wait was for an hour or more.  After prying out the facts through a Freedom of Information Act request, it was found that there were 262 instances across Wales of waits of more than an hour for an ambulance (for Class A calls) during 2012.

BBC News

The South Wales Argus is reporting today:

A patient having a suspected cardiac arrest had to wait more than three hours for an ambulance to attend, new figures showed..

And some waited longer than two and three hours, with conditions including the suspected cardiac/ respiratory arrest, overdose/ poisoning, and chest pain.  A wait in Newport of five hours and 23 minutes from a GP for a patient admission through the high dependency service was the second-longest of all the waits of longer than an hour.

A category A call for a suspected cardiac/respiratory arrest, requiring a response from a hazardous area response team resulted in a wait of 3hr 3min.  A suspected overdose/poisoning in Caerphilly county borough had a response time of 2hr 20 min.

Several category A calls for chest pain are included in the list too, with a wait of 2hr 3min in Newport, and waits of 1hr 47min in Newport and Blaenau Gwent among the longest.

Read the entire article HERE.

The usual rumblings and grumblings from the local politicians are continuing without any effect on the situation.  BBC News also reports:

Before the latest figures were announced, Roy Norris, former chair of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, said people would be wrong to think that the simple answer was to have more ambulances.

He said the Welsh government review of the service would probably look at why ambulances are sometimes forced to wait long periods outside busy hospitals with patients waiting to be admitted.

"There has got to be an entire system review of why it is ambulances are held, why hospitals can't clear people through the emergency department and it will probably be looking at why people can't be discharged from hospital when they are ready to be discharged," he told BBC Radio Wales.

However, it has been pointed out that the WAS has reduced its ambulance fleet from 256 units to 244 and has closed seven ambulance stations.

Welsh Ambulance Service WEBSITE.

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Purchasing Procedures Are Challenged

THE WELSH AMBULANCE SERVICE NHT operates a fleet of 221 ambulances in the country and recently received a shipment of 42 Mercedes 519 ambulances to replace some older units due to be retired.  However, only half of them passed their acceptance inspection while the other 21 are being held out for safety reasons.  They were scheduled to go in service several weeks ago but are still sitting unused while the Trust officials hem and haw with the supplier's representatives over who is going to do what to get them ready for service.  The purchase price for the new units was the equivalent of $270,000 each and it may take "several hundred thousand pounds more" to correct the flaws.  The order was filled by two different ambulance suppliers.

BBC News reports:

Of 56 potential problems identified, 12 could compromise safety. Initially describing it as an "internal matter", the trust says its ability to deliver services is not compromised.

The problems include the positioning of seats, cupboards and handles, as well as a shortage of interior space. There are also concerns that the opening and closing of the rear door could potentially cause injury.

It is thought the bill for modifying the ambulances could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"We have made a decision to delay the introduction of 21 vehicles following an inspection of the ambulances by our vehicle working group, which included senior management members who agreed this action," said a Trust spokesperson.

A similar Welsh Amb. Service unit

This is not the only time that Welsh Ambulance has muffed a purchase.  In 2002 they ordered 30 ambulances that were unusable but the supplier went out of business before they could be corrected.  And in 2005 they accepted an order of 46 ambulances that turned out to be overweight after you filled the fuel tanks and put the medics on board.  The BBC continues:

Conservative health spokesman, Darren Millar, also criticised the purchases.

"The Welsh Labour Government urgently needs to get a grip on this issue. Hundreds of thousands of pounds could be needlessly wasted here, and not for the first time.

"That money should be spent on cutting (response) times for ambulances, not adjusting their seats and doors because the order was wrong.

Many others have chimed in with their displeasure over the ambulance service's continued bumbling. 

Read the full story from the BBC HERE.
Wales Online has MORE.
Welsh Ambulance Service WEBSITE.

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