Refusals and delays: ambulance service under pressure

Winter of 2016–17 saw a record number of ambulances being turned away by Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments due to overcrowding. Unsurprisingly, this had a knock-on effect on the emergency service response times. Attending to patients turned away by A&E for longer periods of time meant that other patients in need of emergency care were left waiting for an ambulance. Around 12% of the serious Category A emergency calls did not meet the response time target of 19 minutes this winter.

As rightly highlighted by the College of Paramedics, ‘diverts’ from hospitals due to rising demands and a lack of staff have a pronounced impact on emergency services in rural areas. Hospitals that ambulances are redirected to are often far away, and time that could be spent in providing advanced medical care is spent in transport – a situation unconducive to best outcome for the patient or the professionals. Paramedics may not be able, trained or authorised to provide advanced medical care if a dangerous health condition worsens during transport. Moreover, these diverts and resultant delays in responding to emergencies have put the Ambulance Service under great pressure.