A&E queues mean Wales’ ambulances ‘can’t take 999 calls’
As lockdown restrictions have eased ambulance staff are having the busiest summer of their lives.
But the pressure on hospitals to find free beds can mean long waits outside for the paramedic crews until their patients can be admitted.
Some say they are “broken” after spending so much time queuing outside A&Es – unable to respond to new calls.
BBC Wales’ health correspondent Owain Clarke has been given special access to crews, and 999 call managers.
‘Demoralising’
Paramedic Osian Roberts has spent most of his 12-hour shift in the back of his ambulance.
He is outside A&E at Glan Clwyd Hospital, in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire.
He knows every inch of tarmac in the hospital’s ambulance bay, because that is where he spends most of his time.
“We know there are people in the community that are screaming out for an ambulance, but as you can see, a lot of ambulances are waiting here,” he said.
“It never ever used to be like this. We used to bring poorly patients in, and we were out on the road again in 15 minutes.
“We could do 10 jobs a shift, today we’ve done two. It’s so demoralising.”
Osian first arrived at the hospital at 09:30 BST, two hours after clocking on in Llandudno, to bring in a woman in her 90s, who had fallen at a nursing home and hurt her elbow.
The patient, who has dementia, was given blood tests and a heart check, but must stay with Osian in the ambulance until a bed becomes available.
It is almost three hours until that happens.
“It is frustrating,” Osian said. “The patient is becoming a bit irritable and uncomfortable, but it’s literally one out, one in, in the department.”
By mid-afternoon Osian arrives at the hospital for a second time.
The situation is worse – there are eight ambulances queuing.
Osian is with a man in his 70s who has fallen at home and may have had a mini-stroke.
He knows if a patient arrives more urgently in need of help, his will be pushed back.
Agencies