ITV News: Record number of hospitals had to close their doors to ambulances

Hospitals had to close their doors to ambulances almost twice as often this winter compared with the previous three years, figures show.

The number of ambulance diverts in place at A&E departments in England hit 478 for the three-month period December to February.

This compares to an average of 249 times over the same period in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16, a report from the Nuffield Trust showed.

The charity said the delays caused by the closures was stopping ambulance crews responding quickly to other urgent calls.

Five NHS trusts accounted for more than half of all the 493 ambulance diverts reported this winter, with three of those in the north east of England.

These were

• Northumbria Healthcare
• County Durham and Darlington
• South Tyneside

So far this winter, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust diverted 36 ambulances, County Durham And Darlington NHS Foundation Trust diverted 38 ambulances and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust diverted 43 ambulances

In the report, the College of Paramedics explains the effect of these diverts on ambulance services:

Diverts from A&E departments have an impact on paramedics' ability to reach seriously ill and injured patients in an appropriate time frame. While we are sympathetic to hospitals that are forced to implement diverts so that they don't reach dangerous levels of overcrowding, in non-urban areas in particular the extra time taken to reach more distant A&E departments is significant.

There is a 'double whammy' in that not only do crews have to drive further away once a divert is implemented - once that's happened, an ambulance crew will then also need to travel further to get back to their own area to respond to the next emergency call"

– RICHARD WEBBER, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON FOR THE COLLEGE AND PRACTISING SENIOR PARAMEDIC

A spokesperson for South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said that this winter was one of their busiest ever periods:

We work very closely with the North East Ambulance Service to manage ambulances when they arrive at our hospital and treat patients as quickly as possible according to clinical need.

This winter, the whole of the North East region experienced one of its busiest-ever periods with unprecedented demand for emergency services. During extremely busy times, as a last resort, we sometimes had to divert the ambulance to another local hospital. This was always done to ensure the highest standards of safety and care and is routine business at times of peak demand.

Trusts in the region also support each other by accepting requests for an ambulance to be diverted, again always in the interests of patient safety."

– SOUTH TYNESIDE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST, COUNTY DURHAM AND DARLINGTON NHS FOUNDATION TRUST AND NORTHUMBRIA HEALTHCARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

Last updated Fri 7 Apr 2017