The number of patients waiting over 12 hours for a bed at York and Scarborough hospitals has fallen significantly since January, though health bosses caution the figures remain too high.
THE number of 12-hour trolley waits at York and Scarborough hospitals remains ‘too high’, despite continuing to fall.
In March, 237 people waited for more than 12 hours in emergency departments run by the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
In February, 406 people waited for 12 hours or longer, a further reduction from January, when 930 patients experienced 12-hour trolley waits.
At a meeting on Wednesday, April 29, health bosses welcomed the reduction but said that the number of long waits remains too high.
Clare Smith, chief executive of the trust, told board members:
“We’ve had improvements across emergency departments, especially in how long people are waiting for a bed.
“The number of 12-hour waits has improved, and we are very, very close to trajectory, but it’s still too high.
“We have also maintained ambulance handovers all year and it’s a major contributor of how people experience care in the organisation.”
Currently, 9.3 per cent of ‘type 1’ attendances at emergency departments at the York and Scarborough NHS Trust experience waits of over 12 hours.
The monthly target for the trust is 8.9 per cent.
According to a report presented to health bosses on Wednesday, the Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU) at both York and Scarborough hospitals has supported a reduction in patients spending over 12 hours in the Emergency Department (ED), “particularly at the York site, though Scarborough has seen improvement too”.
It noted that medical patients awaiting admission were being managed in the Emergency Assessment Unit by acute physicians and receiving timely senior reviews.
While the trust’s board was told that both sites “should see” a further reduction in 12-hour breaches in April, bosses were reminded that bed occupancy levels remain high, and the “capacity required on wards could be higher than escalation spaces can support”.
The report added:
“While the new model reduces patients waiting 12 hours in emergency departments, some patients could be waiting for the same time in Emergency Assessment Unit, which could quickly become full.
“To mitigate this, the situation is closely monitored during site calls, and barriers to moving patients are being escalated and removed where possible.”
In March, 83 per cent of all attendances at emergency departments had an initial assessment within 15 minutes of arrival.
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