Handover Delays At Wrexham Maelor Results In Ambulance Queues

An increase in emergency admissions at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital has resulted in a delay in handover times and long ambulance queues.

Throughout the day there have been handover delays at the Maelor Hospital, resulting in ambulances and patients being left outside the hospital waiting.

One person tweeted Wrexham.com to say there were 12 ambulances outside the Maelor, with some patients waiting several hours to be seen. ‘Toxic Sky’ also tweeted us the above photo of the delays at the hospital.

However today’s handover delays have been put down to ‘high demand’ at the hospital, which has seen an increase in the number of emergency admissions throughout the week – resulting in knock-on delays.

Tim Lynch, Interim Director of Secondary Care said: “We experienced a period of very high demand at Wrexham Maelor Hospital last week. Emergency admissions were up around 30% compared to normal, and this has caused the pressures on our wards to continue to rise throughout the week.

“This has made it more difficult to make beds available for new admissions, and has caused knock-on delays in getting people into our Emergency Department.

“We are trying to open additional temporary beds in the Hospital to increase our capacity, but to do this we have to be sure we can bring in enough extra nurses to safely look after the patients in these beds.

“Our staff are working incredibly hard to make sure that patients are getting the care they need and we can only ask for people’s patience and understanding while we try to manage this difficult situation.”

However Steve Williams, Acting Head of Operations for the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area said work is continuing with Local Health Boards to ‘to ensure individual delays are escalated to senior managers at all affected hospitals, and that plans are in place to ensure delays are minimised’.

Mr Williams added: “Ambulance crews continue to provide clinical care and attention for patients as they wait to be admitted into hospital and liaise with hospital staff to help prioritise those patients with greatest clinical need.

“Critically ill patients will always be transferred into the care of hospital staff as quickly and as safely as possible to avoid further delay and distress.

“Now, more than ever, we would ask the public to support us by using NHS services appropriately; NHS Direct Wales, out-of-hour GP services and pharmacies are all available for healthcare and advice for minor illnesses and injuries.”

People are also reminded to only dial 999 if someone is seriously ill or injured or their life is at risk. Please www.choosewellwales.org.uk for more information.