A patient in Northern Ireland has waited 19 hours in an ambulance outside a hospital's emergency department due to a 'lack of flow' in the health system. The medical director of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) attributes the delays to a surge in respiratory illnesses and difficulties in discharging patients from hospitals.
A patient has waited 19 hours in the back of an ambulance outside a hospital's emergency department, the medical director of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) has said. He said that ambulance crews are currently facing lengthy delays handing patients over to hospitals because of a 'lack of flow' in the system. This has been caused by a spike in respiratory illnesses and difficulties in discharging hospital patients back home, he added.
He told the BBC'sThe NIAS said it would not be providing any further comment. Dr Ruddell added: 'There is no doubt we are facing a period of really sustained extreme pressure primarily due to large numbers of patients presenting with respiratory illness particularly affecting all hospital sites over the past week. 'This coupled with challenges discharging patients back home or to the community effectively causes stagnation. 'It is causing very significant delays in being able to hand over our patients when we arrive to emergency departments,' he said. At least seven ambulances were waiting to offload patients at Causeway Hospital on Saturday afternoonThe NIAS said it was 'experiencing severe challenges' as a result of the pressures being felt across the system, while the Department of Health said that the healthcare system was working extremely hard to care for patients while under 'severe pressure'. On Monday, Dr Michael Perry, vice chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Northern Ireland, told BBC News NI no patient should have to wait anything like 19 hours to be transferred to hospital from an ambulance. 'It is completely unacceptable, I don't think any clinician would think this is acceptable,' he said.He said patients were being left in ambulances because 'we simply don't have any room to offload ambulances into emergency departments'
HEALTHCARE AMBULANCE EMERGENCY RESPIRATORY ILLNESS HOSPITAL DELAYS
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