Worcestershire’s emergency departments have been under extreme strain, prompting the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to declare three critical incidents in as many weeks, including one on Monday. The Trust has apologized for the delays patients have faced, with the hospitals seeing high numbers of walk-in patients and significant wait times for ambulance handovers.
In October, only 50.6% of patients attending the county’s A&E departments were treated, admitted, or discharged within the target four-hour window. Meanwhile, 1,268 ambulance patients experienced waits of over an hour before being admitted. On one particularly busy night in November, Tim Mason, a walk-in patient at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, spent more than 11 hours waiting for treatment after presenting with severe pain in his leg. Despite the long wait, he was eventually treated promptly when staff realized he hadn’t been administered blood thinners.
Mason described his experience as “appalling,” questioning whether enough staff were on duty during the night shift to handle the volume of patients. He noted that many patients, including himself, were left waiting in the emergency department without treatment, possibly until departments opened the following morning.
The Trust has been struggling with rising demand for services, with November figures showing a 9.6% increase in emergency department attendances compared to the previous year. This has put additional pressure on already stretched resources. In October, 37 ambulance patients waited over eight hours to be admitted, and in some cases, up to 43 patients had to be accommodated in areas not typically used for patient care.
Compounding these challenges, repairs to the £35m new emergency department’s flooring in October and the introduction of a new electronic patient record system have hindered productivity and contributed to overcrowding. Chief nursing officer Sarah Shingler also noted that care in corridors has led to a rise in patient falls, further adding to the pressure on staff.
In response to these challenges, Stephen Collman, managing director of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, acknowledged the severe delays and promised that extra resources would be deployed to help reduce pressure on emergency departments. He stressed that the Trust, alongside its partners, was working to ensure patients receive the care they need. However, with increasing demand and ongoing systemic issues, patients and staff are feeling the strain as the NHS faces a tough winter ahead.