Ambulance crew revealed the reality of working on the frontline of the A&E waiting times crisis as a senior politician visited a unit in Fife.
Paramedic Kevin Stewart, convener of Unison’s Scottish Ambulance Service branch, lifted the lid on the impact ambulances queuing outside hospitals has on patients and staff.
He set out the details to Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie while she visited the A&E department at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy on Tuesday.
It came as new statistics revealed just 61% of patients were seen within the government-mandated four hour target last week.
Mr Stewart explained how crews faced stress as they were left caring for patients outside busy hospitals.
He described how trolley beds in ambulances are designed to be firm to allow resuscitation to be carried out – but the design can cause patient’s skin to become damaged if they are stuck on them for prolonged periods.
Mr Stewart also said that more complex mental health cases were adding to strain.
Makeshift ward
The paramedic described calling mental health services for patients who were making threats against their life, only to be told an appointment would be made during working hours the following day.
“I then leave and wonder if I’ll have return to [the patient] an hour later having killed themselves,” he told Dame Jackie starkly.
Medics in the Kingdom previously told The Courier how they had been left to run a makeshift ward outside the hospital as staff inside struggled to make space for arriving patients.
On Tuesday, The Courier was told by four ambulance crews they were waiting to hand patients over.
Speaking to The Courier during her visit, Dame Jackie said: “What I’ve learned today is the moral injury it causes to staff.
“We have well trained paramedics who are nursing patients in the back of ambulances because they can’t get them into A&E.
“They are not trained to provide that level of care. It’s causing them stress because they want to do the best for their patients, but it also leads to worse patient outcomes.
“We need to get much faster at doing this.”
The Scottish Labour politician said her party will come up with proposals to ensure that ambulance crews can get patients into A&E.
“At the moment we’ve got waiting rooms outside A&E – they are called ambulances.
SNP government ‘out of ideas’
“The NHS is entirely the responsibility of the Scottish Government. They have the resources, it’s political will and ideas needed to fix the problem.
“Unfortunately this SNP government has run out of ideas.”
First Minister John Swinney pledged to drive down NHS waiting lists and A&E waiting times.
Among proposals, delivered as the health budget increases to record levels, are “frailty teams” at A&E departments.
He said: “This will mean that frail patients, often older patients with complex needs, will bypass our busy A&Es, in order to receive the specialist care and support they need, whether in hospital or back at home.”
A spokesperson for the health board said: “NHS Fife was unaware of Jackie Baillie MSP’s visit to our Victoria Hospital site in Kirkcaldy.
“Had we been informed in advance of her wish to visit, we could have facilitated a tour of our emergency and urgent care services where she could have learned much more about the care we provide for patients in Fife.”
The health board denied any patients had been waiting in ambulances outside the hospital, but paramedics on site said this was the case.
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