• New figures show extent of 24 and 48 hour waits at trust’s ED
  • Record-long waits despite fewer ED attendances in previous years
  • Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has opened “as many beds as possible”

Nearly 90 patients waited two days or more before admission in a two-month period in one of the NHS’s most under pressure emergency departments, according to new trust data.    

Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust chiefs also warned the situation was likely to get worse as it braced for the school holidays during which the area’s population swells by at least 10 per cent.

The trust’s figures showed 89 patients waited longer than 48 hours for a bed in April and May. The daily average throughout this period was nearly 1.5 patients waiting longer than two days. The figures also showed 865 patients waited in the ED longer than 24 hours for a bed in the same two months.

The figures provide the first indicative picture of the number of patients waiting longer than one and two days in the trust’s ED, amid NHS emergency performance hitting record-low levels this year. Figures for 24 or 48 hour waits are not routinely published by trusts.

The patients were cared for in a variety of spaces within the ED while waiting for a bed. These included cubicles, the minor treatment area, resuscitation, the rapid assessment unit, and temporary ambulance handover area.

The trust was the seventh worst performer against the 12-hour after decision to admit waiting time targetin the most recent published data, recording 607 breaches in June.

However, it told HSJ patients were waiting in corridors “only on rare occasions, and they are always moved as quickly as possible to another area in the department”.

The long waits have occurred despite the ED’s attendances being lower in April and May 2022 (5,385) than in the same two months pre-covid in 2019 (14,070), when no patient waited longer than 12 hours.

April 2022 saw the longest waits when 454 patients waited longer than a day, of which 52 patients waited longer than two days – from 5,385 patient attendances in total.

And RCHT chiefs warned the ED faces its “busiest weeks ahead” as Cornwall’s population increases by at least 10 per cent during the summer holiday season.

A trust spokeswoman told HSJ: “Within our hospitals we have opened as many extra beds as possible. We are reducing admissions by reviewing lower acuity patients on arrival and during their inpatient stay to maximise the use of alternative settings and services, wherever appropriate.”

She said “many patients” are ready for discharge but were unable to leave, adding: “This is not a problem our hospitals can solve alone, and we continue to work together with our system partners to tackle the capacity gaps in the care home and domiciliary care sectors, which are largely driven by the high level of staff vacancies.”

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Source

RCHT board papers; Information obtained by HSJ

Source date

July 2022

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