Ambulances in the Black Country are losing thousands of hours waiting to hand over patients at local hospitals, with delays increasing significantly over recent months.
The Birmingham and Solihull and Black Country NHS Joint ICB Cluster Board is set to meet next week to address urgent and emergency care performance across the region.
Recent figures reveal that the total number of hours ambulances were delayed by over 15 minutes outside A&E departments rose from 4,841 hours in April to 6,162 hours in May. This is almost double the 3,205 hours recorded in May of last year.
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Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust experienced the highest delays, with ambulances waiting a total of 2,364 hours. The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust followed closely with 2,296 hours lost. Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust reported 1,280 hours lost, while Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust saw 221 hours of delays.
A report prepared for the upcoming Board meeting on July 13 highlights the urgent need to reduce these lost hours during patient handovers. It also notes that a 45-minute maximum handover time has been in place since February 26, with all trusts actively working to meet this target.
To tackle the problem, the Out of Hospital and Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) programmes are collaborating to enhance hospital avoidance pathways and minimize delays. Performance and activity are monitored daily by the Strategic Command Centre, which uses SHREWD—a live monitoring system tracking A&E, ambulance services, 111 calls, admissions, discharges, patient transport, and virtual ward capacity.
Additionally, silver command meetings occur twice daily to address any immediate pressures in real time, helping to manage and reduce ambulance waiting times more effectively.