There is “no easy answer” for fixing long delays in Nottinghamshire ambulance response times as the wider health network faces backlogs in patient discharges an handovers in hospitals, an ambulance service boss has said.
New East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) figures show the organisation missed all its response targets for both category one and category two emergencies across Nottinghamshire in the 12 months to July.
This was partly put down to difficulties in handing patients over once ambulance crews have taken them to hospitals. One councillor has recounted her father having to wait hours for an ambulance to arrive at his home before finding “rows” of patients and paramedics left waiting on wards because the hospital had a backlog in dealing with admissions.
The figures and anecdotes have sparked concerns the health service could struggle further as the winter months loom. The EMAS figures revealed crews failed to meet their average seven-minute target for category one incidents – those classed as immediately life-threatening – in every month between August 2021 and this July.
