More than a third of patients were stuck in ambulances for over an hour waiting to be admitted to hospitals in Bristol last week.
There were a total of 1,481 arrivals by ambulance at NHS hospitals in Bristol in the week ending January 5, according to the latest government figures. That’s at both emergency and non-emergency departments.
More than a third (37%) of those, a total of 550 patients, had to wait over an hour before being admitted. That’s compared to a national average of one in five (20%).
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust had a total of 313 patients with an ambulance handover delay of over an hour. That works out as 38% of all arrivals by ambulance.
North Bristol NHS Trust fared marginally better with a total of 237 arrivals by ambulance (36%) facing delays of over an hour. The average wait time across England on January 5 was 47 minutes.
It was much higher at Bristol’s two trusts though. The average handover delay was one hour four minutes at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. At North Bristol NHS Trust it was one hour flat.
Meanwhile, thousands of patients are staying in hospital for longer than is necessary. On Sunday January 5, a total of 18,390 patients across NHS hospitals in England were deemed well enough to be discharged.
Fewer than a third of those (29.4%), however, were actually sent home.
That left 12,983 patients (70.5% of the total) taking up hospital beds unnecessarily.
In Bristol, a total of 486 patients were deemed well enough to be sent home. Only a quarter of those (123) were actually discharged though.
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