PARAMEDICS are wasting thousands of hours stuck outside hospitals when they could be responding to other 999 calls, the County Gazette has learned.

Ambulance staff have lost more than 7,000 working hours in four months due to handover delays at hospitals in the region.

Figures from South Western Ambulance Service (SWAS) show that ambulances regularly wait over 30 minutes to transfer patients, losing more than 60 hours per day every day from May to August.

This is despite a delay of just 15 minutes being labelled 'zero tolerance' by the NHS.

In two cases between April and August, patients were left waiting to be transferred to hospital for more than two hours; five were waiting three to four hours and seven two to three hours.

It means that patients are potentially waiting longer for an ambulance when they call 999 because paramedics are tied up in a queue outside A and E departments.

In August, the latest reported month, 20 per cent of 'red' category patients– those in the most serious condition– waited up to 32 minutes for an ambulance.

Twenty–per cent of 'amber' category patients, where a blue light emergency response is required due to 'potentially serious condition' waited up to 87 minutes for a response.

But this is a slight improvement– in March they lost 2,609 hours; an increase of 104 per cent year on year.

As reported in the County Gazette, SWAS NHS Foundation Trust was given an overall rating of 'requires improvement' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) earlier this month, with concerns expressed over staff shortages, training and the reporting of problems.

SWAST is currently taking part in a trial to try and improve the practice of trusts throughout the country. As part of the trial, a number of issues have been raised including dispatching resources to a 999 call before it has been identified if an ambulance is actually needed, sending multiple ambulances to the same patient, diverting ambulance vehicles from one call to another repeatedly, using a ‘fast response unit’ to ‘stop the clock’, when this provides limited clinical value to a patient, who then waits for a conveying ambulance and very long waits for lower priority calls that nevertheless need assessment and conveyance to hospital.

A spokesman from SWAS said: "Many people incorrectly think that if they dial 999 and ask for the ambulance service an ambulance will be dispatched and they will be taken to hospital. The majority of incidents the Trust deals with are closed without the need to convey [take] a patient to an emergency department at a hospital. SWASFT is the best performing ambulance service for non-conveyance rates – this may seem strange as a ‘best performing’ figure, but this is better for patients and most patients want to be treated outside a hospital setting wherever possible.

"Approximately one in eight calls to our 999 service are treated over the telephone, 36.4 per cent of patients experience see and treat, when the patient receives treatment or advice at the scene of the incident, 7.7 per cent of patients are taken to a non-hospital department so that might mean a community hospital or minor injuries unit. The rest are taken to a hospital emergency department.

“Ambulances queuing to handover patients at hospital emergency departments are not available to respond to other patients in need. South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) works hard with the 18 acute hospitals in the South West to minimise handover delays in their emergency departments (EDs).

“SWASFT also works closely with its commissioners to ensure a collaborative approach to managing pressures on delivering high quality emergency care.

“SWASFT is one the best performing ambulance trusts in the country for minimising handover delays. Increasing demand year-on-year is putting pressure on every area of the NHS and we pride ourselves on ensuring our patients are cared for in the right setting.