By Gurdip Thandi
Copyright expressandstar
University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust’s board members were told they were still behind plan for cutting the amount of time lost for ambulance handovers.
But a report showed there is an ‘improving trend’ across the trust with latest figures showing the number of 45-minute handover breaches reducing from 4,410 in June to 3,583 in July.
The report said both Queen Elizabeth and Good Hospital had improved average ambulance handover time performance but Heartlands had deteriorated year on year.
Data revealed Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s average handover time had reduced from just over one hour and four minutes in July 2024 to just over 44 minutes 12 months later.
Good Hope has seen a reduction from just over one hour and five minutes in July 2024 to just over one hour and two minutes this year. But Heartlands had increased from 49 minutes in July 2024 to just over one hour and six minutes a year later.
One of the key factors for long ambulance handover times at hospitals is bed availability.
The report said: “The inability to transfer a patient from the Emergency Department (ED) once clinically ready to proceed results in reduced cubicle capacity, an inability to receive patients from ambulances, increased times for patients to be treated and a sub-optimal nurse to patient ratio.
“Consequently, there is significant focus across all hospital sites on both avoiding admission to a ward by following best practice pathways and, if admitted, reducing the time a patient spends in an inpatient environment by increasing the number of daily discharges.”
Iain Pickles, chief operating officer, told the board: “We remain behind plan for average handover duration but we have seen some improvements from quarter one in quarter two.
“In quarter one, on average each month, handover duration was about an hour and thirty minutes. In the first two months of quarter two, it’s been around an hour.
“There is still a significant chunk of time to take off that in order to get back to plan by the end of the year.”
He added a number of initiatives were being implemented across the hospital sites to enable further improvements to be made.
