Ambulance staff 'heartbroken' as patients wait for hours to be transferred to hospitals

By Dan Haygarth | 10/12/24

?Hello,

Today’s Liverpool Daily Post brings you the latest on challenges facing the NHS this winter. Liam Thorp reports that new data shows how often ambulance handovers are missing targets as a staff member says: "All I do is say sorry".

Elsewhere, Edward Barnes brings worrying news from Wirral’s beaches and David Humphreys reports that a Liverpool city centre bar has vowed to continue “getting down and getting loose for many more years to come” after a deal was struck over noise levels.

Thanks for reading.

Ambulance staff 'heartbroken' as patients wait for hours to be transferred to hospitals

An ambulance worker covering Merseyside has described working in a 'heartbreaking, failing system' as new data shows the shocking number of delays affecting the NHS in this region, reports Liam Thorp.

NHS data, compiled by the PA news agency, shows the number of ambulance handovers of patients that are taking more than 30 minutes for individual hospital trusts around the country. National guidance states that patients arriving at an emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the care of A&E staff within 15 minutes.

But with hospitals in a state of crisis, the scenes of rows of ambulances parked up outside emergency rooms, waiting to hand patients over has become commonplace. The latest data shows that more than a third of patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England in the week ending on December 1 waited more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E.

For Liverpool University Hospitals, which covers the Royal Liverpool hospital, Aintree and Broadgreen, there were 1059 ambulance handovers where the time was known in the week in question, of which 634 (59.9%) took more than 30 minutes.

At Wirral University Teaching Hospitals Trust, which includes Arrowe Park Hospital, there were 417 handovers of which 234 (56.1%) took more than 30 minutes. At the Mersey and West Lancashire Trust, which includes Whiston, Southport and St Helens Hospitals, the overall percentage of handovers in that same week taking more than half an hour was 56.7%.

But as one frontline worker for the North West Ambulance Service who covers Merseyside told the ECHO, it is usually a case of patients and increasingly demoralised ambulance staff waiting much, much longer than 30 minutes for such handovers to take place.

The worker, who is not a paramedic but works on board ambulances, said: "Across the region it's becoming more and more frustrating. Every time we pull up to A&E our heart sinks when there is more than 4 or 5 ambulances in the bays as you know at that point that you are there for several hours.

"At Aintree Hospital recently we took our patient inside to be triaged, then as is unfortunately so often the case we were back outside on the ambulance to wait. Sometimes you can get lucky and it's only an hour or two, most of the time it's 5+ hours in the back of an ambulance with your patient."

The staff member added: "I feel like all I do is apologise to patients these days. Sorry for waiting so long for an ambulance, sorry we are waiting in the ambulance, I'm just sorry. The more ambulances at A&E waiting the longer people are waiting for ambulances.

They added: "It's not the hospitals fault, they can't magic beds or space out of thin air, it's not the ambulance service's fault as they have nowhere else to take the patients. It's such a heart-breaking failing system that's only going to get worse as winter pressures hit."

Responding to the figures and comments, Dan Ainsworth, Director of Operations for the North West Ambulance Service said: “We recognise the challenges facing hospitals at the moment and the impact it's causing to hospital handovers. We continue working closely with our healthcare partners to reduce these delays and lessen their impact on response times.

"Last month, to help keep more ambulances available for patients, we provided an additional two thousand ambulance hours compared to the same month last year. We have also initiated various internal processes to help monitor and triage waiting patients. This includes suggesting alternative healthcare options to less ill patients."

A spokesperson for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said: "We're experiencing a very challenging winter period with exceptionally high levels of demand for care, and at times this may mean longer than normal handover times for ambulance crews at our hospitals.

"The NHS in Cheshire and Merseyside is working closely with partners across all parts of the health and social care system to help free up more capacity, and address the delays that people are currently experiencing."

The NHS finds itself heading into another incredibly difficult winter period with a so-called 'quad-demic' being predicted. Hospitals are dealing with an enormous 350% rise in flu cases and an 86% hike in norovirus compared with the same week last year. There are also concerns of rising covid and RSV levels. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has held urgent talks with NHS leaders about how the service will cope with the impending winter crisis.

Fears beach will have to shut after worrying announcement made

Three Wirral beaches have seen their water quality ratings downgraded after an uptick in bacteria levels linked to pollution this year, reports Edward Barnes. This leaves only one beach, Leasowe, still considered “excellent” which is down from four beaches two years ago.

New ratings announced by the Environment Agency at the end of October 2024 shows West Kirby beach has dropped even further with water quality now only considered “sufficient.” Campaigners fear water quality could get worse next year if trends continue and see a rating for the beach drop down to “poor.”

If a beach’s water quality is considered poor, signs advising people against swimming are posted at the beach. West Kirby is the base of the popular Wirral Waters Sports centre for people sailing and kite surfing with a busy beach next door on sunny days.

Two other beaches, Wallasey and Meols, have also seen a downgrade in ratings going from excellent in 2023 to good in 2024. Ian Crewe, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire Area Director for the Environment Agency, said overall trends for the region were positive but was disappointed about the situation in Wirral.

Initial data collected at West Kirby suggests sewage is not the cause but investigations are ongoing. Mr Crewe said the Wirral ratings “makes us even more committed to working with key partners and water companies to improve water quality at these important destinations.”

However, Hilary Hart, who co-founded the sewage and water quality campaign group Clean Mersey, believes more needs to be done to tackle the issue and plans to write to the Environment Agency. She said: “We are really worried about this trend in West Kirby. Are we going to end up in 2025 with the beach shut?”

She said next year people will be looking at where to spend their time and money on holiday, adding: “I think it’s very worrying for local businesses, extremely worrying for local businesses if people read that.”

The Environment Agency believes sewage discharges into the Mersey or off the north west coast is a minor contributor to West Kirby’s problems with limited DNA analysis suggesting sewage was a minor contributor compared to agricultural run-off or sea birds. However it is considered to be too early to tell for certain.

The regulator is also planning to sample the pipe close to the beach on a regular basis to see if this is the cause as current data is limited. The pipe can act as a sewage discharge point on a limited number of occasions.

It’s understood test results this year showed high results for the bacteria monitored under bathing water regulations at this pipe. Further tests are needed to monitor this and the Environment Agency plans to work with Wirral Council and United Utilities to obtain discharge data for the surface water outfall.

A suspected pollution incident earlier this year later turned out to be rotting seaweed which can raise bacteria levels. Going forward, the government body also plans to DNA screen all bathing water samples significantly beefing up what is screened for.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “The long-term trend for bathing water quality in the North West remains positive this year with 95% achieving the minimum standard of sufficient. Of these, 61% achieved the highest standards of Excellent or Good.

“However, there is still much more to be done to ensure cleaner and healthier waters for people to enjoy. We understand the frustration felt by the community in West Kirby and other nearby beaches and investigations are ongoing to determine the causes of the changed water quality rating.”

Bar vows to carry on 'getting loose for years to come' after noise row

A Liverpool city centre bar has vowed to continue “getting down and getting loose for many more years to come” after a deal was struck over “intolerable” noise levels. Motel on Fleet Street had been the subject of a licensing review by the city council in relation to prevention of public nuisance after complaints were brought by the company behind the neighbouring Hanover Hotel, reports David Humphreys.

It was revealed earlier in the autumn how patrons and staff at the hotel directly across from the bar felt noise generated by the venue had “increased dramatically” causing a “detrimental effect” on patrons and staff. Motel is operated by DGB Hospitality which runs a number of other bars and cafes across the city centre and beyond.

After a series of behind closed doors meetings, it was confirmed before a committee of councillors this afternoon that both parties had agreed to a series of conditions including a noise limiter to be repaired at Motel to dampen any sound emissions impacting guests. Paul Senior, DGB Hospitality director, said the company was “disappointed” to have had to go to a licence review but looked forward to continuing to trade.

The flagship venue in DGB’s group, which is described as a dive bar karaoke venue, had initially sought to extend its opening hours to 5am on weekends before being withdrawn. Concerns about noise were raised by legal teams representing the operators of Hanover Hotel.

In a letter made public by the city council ahead of the committee hearing, Gosschalks LLP said: “Our client’s hotel has traded continuously for 20+ years during which time they have experienced a succession of late-night operators occupying the premises opposite.

“Over the years they have accepted that being located in the city centre brings a degree of vibrancy, but since Motel opened the levels of noise nuisance and disturbance has increased dramatically.” The representation added how the noise generated during late nights by live and recorded music and “general disturbance” had become “simply intolerable for our client’s guests and staff causing sleepless nights.

“The detrimental effects on management who reside on the premises has resulted in chronic stress, anxiety and depression.” As a result, barristers from both parties spent this afternoon thrashing out a deal to attach conditions to the existing licence at Motel.

Among the changes agreed were the implementation of a noise management plan within 28 days agreed by the local authority. A dispersal plan must also be put in place with all external doors and windows closed save for patrons accessing and exiting the premises.

In a statement, Paul Senior, DGB group director, said: “This can only be seen as a huge victory for Motel and the company as a whole. Motel has operated in the city for 11 years with the mission to be the ultimate late night party and we are pleased to have found a resolution to continue.

“We are beyond disappointed to have been brought to this review by our neighbours but look forward to getting down and getting loose for many more years to come.”

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