Ambulance crews waste 500,000 hours a year outside A&E due to hospital backlog
The pile up at NHS hospitals means fewer ambulances are able to respond to emergency 999 calls
AMBULANCE crews waste more than 500,000 hours a year sat outside A&E because doctors and wards are too busy to take in their patients.
Medics are supposed to complete the handover within 15 minutes.
But figures show the time spent waiting beyond this has risen by 52 per cent in two years.
It means there are fewer ambulances available for 999 calls and equates to losing 286 crews a year. Senior paramedics said it was not uncommon to run out of ambulances at peak times.
The Department of Health said: “NHS England is working closely with ambulance services to improve response times.”
Half of A&E and maternity junior medics are so sleep-deprived it could be putting patients at risk, research by the General Medical Council found.
PUT DOCS IN CHARGE
The Health Secretary attacked the “manager class” that has taken over running the NHS and said he wants more clinicians in top roles.
DOCTORS and nurses should be put in charge of hospitals, Jeremy Hunt has insisted.
Only 34 per cent of NHS Trust chief executives are former practising doctors and nurses.
Speaking at the NHS Providers conference in Birmingham, Mr Hunt launched a “wide-ranging” programme to encourage more clinicians to go into management roles.