AMBULANCES were delayed by nearly two million hours waiting to hand over patients at A&Es across England last year, a new report has found.
Patients should be handed over within 15 minutes, according to national guidance.
But the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) said that nearly two million hours had been lost due to delays exceeding the target over the 12 months to March.
Some 868,000 hours were lost due to handover delays of an hour or more over the period.
Hospital handover delays have “increased steadily” since 2011 and the upward trend has “accelerated with numbers reaching unprecedented levels,” the report said.
Three quarters of handovers exceeded the target in December 2022.
Of these there were a total of 66,000 — more than 10 times the estimated 5,226 in December 2012 — handover delays over an hour across England.
AACE managing director Martin Flaherty said: “We have seen significant improvements in some areas [but] it is clear from the data that we remain in a precarious position.
“There is subsequently no room for complacency and considerable work for us all to continue to do to prevent handover delays.”
GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: “We cannot stress enough how it is simply unacceptable that this issue continues.
“This is causing increasing anxiety for GMB members working as ambulance crews as we expect the normal winter pressures to be upon us soon.
“The Tories have let down the whole population with their mismanagement of the health and care sector.”
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: “Rising handover delays over the last decade are symptomatic of the relentless pressure on the whole health and care system.
“This is especially concerning as we head into winter, the most challenging time of year for the NHS.
“For trust leaders to be able to continue to make progress in tackling handover delays, we need to see urgent reform of social care and adequate investment in community services.”
An NHS England spokesperson said: “This year we set out our plans for winter earlier than ever before and as part of our urgent and emergency care recovery plan we are rolling out a host of measures to both improve hospital discharge and flow, reduce ambulance handover delays and increase the number of ambulance hours on the road, including 5,000 new beds to boost capacity and reduce waiting times for patients.”
