The Chair of the National Assembly’s Audit Committee’s statement on the Auditor General’s report on patient handovers at hospital emergency departments

A statement from Jonathan Morgan AM

Attempting to measure the time it takes for ambulance crews to hand over the duty of care for patients to A&E departments is a positive move. But the system is obviously not yet working, and a true understanding the situation is not available.

There have been some positive steps in improving the handover process, but handover times are not being consistently recorded due to problems with new data terminals, staff’s resistance to their use and uncertainty over the process of recording information.

As well as ambulances queuing outside hospitals and consequently struggling to respond to new emergency calls, it also leads to a detrimental impact on the patient.

Many patients have to wait far too long at hospitals before ambulance crews can transfer them into the care of medical staff, and long handover times can result in patients awaiting medical attention on ambulance trolleys in hospital corridors and ambulances.

New targets introduced in 2008 gave ambulance crews and emergency units 15 minutes for patient handovers and signal the Welsh government’s commitment to reducing the negative consequences of excessive delays in the patient handover at hospitals. It is crucial that all partners work together more effectively in the short term to make the new recording system work, with a view to developing a more seamless approach to unscheduled care for patients in Wales.

There are lessons to be learned - acute trusts and the ambulance trust will need to work together more effectively at levels to improve the situation. There are early signs that more focused attention is improving the position.