Inspector's A&E safety fears

EMERGENCY services for Solihull patients have been criticised by the official health watchdog with concerns including safety.

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Baby fears as Heartlands slammed

A HEALTH campaigner has said she is concerned for Solihull mums-to-be after a damning report into another hospital they now face having to go to.

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NHS fines council over bed blocking

HOSPITAL bosses have said council chiefs should pay them more than £500,000 because they are not taking on patients from wards, freeing up beds, The Birmingham Post reports.

It comes after The Silhillian reported that a lack of beds is the main reason for long waits in A&E.

Lack of beds to blame for A&E waits, say chiefs

A LACK of bed space is overwhelmingly to blame for major waiting time failures in A&E, hospital bosses have said.

‘Bed capacity’ is the reason for about 60 per cent of delays at Solihull, right, Good Hope and Heartlands Hospitals, they said in a report.

Monitor, the national foundation trust watchdog, has intervened because of waits at the hospitals, run by Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. Click the link below to read.

A&E waits soar

WAITING times in A&E have deteriorated – and bosses say it is ‘difficult to see’ how actions to tackle it are having an affect.

Latest figures show waits at Solihull, Heartlands and Good Hope hospitals were well below a key target, to get 98 per cent of people seen within four hours.

These fell from 96.5 per cent to 92.6 per cent in January.

The national regulator has stepped in to demand improvements from Heart of England NHS Trust, which runs the hospitals.

An NHS report says: “Recent adverse weather conditions have generated additional pressure on A&E services but it is difficult to see how the planned improvement measures put in place are having a beneficial impact.”

And the problem of patients waiting in ambulances outside hospital – often blamed on there not being enough beds and staff – has got worse, the report says.

Waits at Solihull Hospital are four times the West Midlands average, The Silhillian reported last month – and this has now risen to five times the regional average.

About 50 per cent of patients waited more than 30 minutes in December – double July’s figure.

Meanwhile the report says there is ‘significant concern’ that ambulances can get to patients quick enough in the first place.

It says: “No assurance can be provided that performance at the end of 2009/10 will be much better than the current levels.”

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Solihull doc is A&E chief

A SOLIHULL doctor has been appointed Britain’s top A&E chief.

Professor Matthew Cooke, an emergency medicine consultant, is the new national clinical director for urgent and emergency care at the Department of Health, replacing Sir George Alberti.

Professor Cooke, said: “Working closely with service users and NHS staff will be key to re-energising the system to bring about emergency care improvements.”

The authority he works for, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, hit headlines recently over major concerns about A&E waiting times.

This led regulator Monitor to step in and warn it is in ‘significant breach’ of its prestigious foundation trust status.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director, said: “He brings extensive experience in urgent and emergency care, both as a clinician and academic.”

More patients in ambulances outside hospital

PATIENTS are four times as likely to wait more than an hour in an ambulance outside Solihull Hospital than others in the West Midlands, latest figures show.

A lack of bed and staff are often blamed for the delay in these ‘turnaround’ times. It comes as ambulance and A&E waiting times deteriorate further.

About 10 people waited more than an hour in August – but this had risen to about 80 in November, a report from Solihull NHS Care Trust says.

It means about 13 per cent of all handovers from paramedics to hospital staff happened after an hour – up from one per cent in August. This was three per cent for the West Midlands.

And more than half of all patients waited more than half-an-hour before paramedics handed them to hospital staff. This is up from a quarter in August.

The report says: “The rates of delayed turnarounds for both Solihull and Heartlands are significantly in excess of the WM average.”

Critics have said patients are kept in ambulances so the clock does not ‘start ticking’ on a Government target for 98 per cent of A&E patients to be seen in four hours.

The four hour target is claimed to further distort priorities once in A&E.

A major study found a surge in A&E patients being seen in the ten minutes before the four hour target expires at Solihull, Heartlands and Good Hope hospitals.

Despite this, the four hour target was not met during a single day in December at the three.

The report says the trust is trying to reduce turnaround and response delays by taking patients to walk-in centres ‘regardless of age’ for minor injuries.

But it says: “It is difficult to see how the planned improvement measures put in place are having a beneficial impact.”

Ambulance response times have also deteriorated.

Just two thirds of the most serious calls were reached within eight minutes in November against a target of 75 per cent. This was down from October.

The report says it has ‘significant concern’ about this and can offer ‘no assurance’ this will improve.

The Silhillian has reported that chiefs have written to the West Midlands Ambulance Service expressing concern. They refused to make the letter public.

Download the report here and open 2010.011 Corporate Performance Report Nov 2009_1.

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Mini A&E sees drunks

REVELLERS who had too much to drink were among those treated at an inflatable accident and emergency department set up in Solihull last night.

Council, police and health bosses hoped the High Street facility – manned by paramedics, doctors and nurses – would cut hospital visits.

The Silhillian has reported how health chiefs are "worried" about patients being left in the back of ambulances as A&E departments struggle to cope with demand.

Inspector Phil Radbourne wrote on Twitter: “Just treated our first two patients at urgent care unit Solihull. A knee injury and someone a little too much to drink.”

He later said: “Both patients discharged from urgent care unit without having to go to A&E. Now approaching some closing times.

“Next patient. Third now. Bumped his head. Just bring treated.

“Now our 4th patient. Under influence of alcohol, now coming round.”

He said: “Final count at Urgent Care Unit Solihull - seven people treated and saved five ambulance trips. Mainly falls or bang to head. On again tonight.”

Details have also been pubished on the Let's Be Social blog.

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"Mini A&E" for town centre

A “MINI A&E” will bet set up in Solihull town centre to treat minor injuries over the Christmas period.

The inflatable tent will be staffed by a doctor and nurse tomorrow night, Saturday and Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve.

Solihull’s director of public health, Stephen Munday, said: “These particular nights around Christmas and New Year have seen a huge rise in hospital emergency admissions in the past.

"We want to help people and also relieve pressure on the hospital by treating the more minor cases on the spot.”

The Silhillian has reported how health chiefs are "worried" about patients being left in the back of ambulance as A&E departments struggle to cope with demand.

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Patients left in ambulances "worrying"

HEALTH chiefs have warned of a “worrying” rise in patients being left in the back of ambulances outside hospital.

The number of “turnaround” times – how long a patient waits to be handed from paramedics to hospital staff – over 30 minutes has risen.

An NHS report says: “Recently there has been further worrying signs about the level of patient turnaround times in excess of 30 minutes.”

The was “rising at a steady rate” with more than 50 per cent of patients at Heartlands Hospital waiting over 30 minutes, a figure “significantly in excess” of the West Midlands average.

And delays have increased from a quarter to nearly half at Solihull Hospital and doubled at Good Hope, Sutton Coldfield the Solihull NHS Care Trust report says.

The trend is often attributed to struggling A&E departments being unable to take on patients.

Latest figures show waiting times at A&E departments have risen across the West Midlands, leading regional chiefs to write to managers “expressing concern”.

This is worst in Solihull Hospital compared to the borough’s other two hospitals, the report says.

A target to get 98 per cent of patients seen in four hours was not met at the three in the “vast majority” of days in November. This was “driven” by waits at Solihull.

The report said 75 per cent of delays related to “capacity issues” where demand was outstripped by resources.

Of these, five out of eight were because patients were waiting for staff while three out of eight were because cubicles were “at full occupancy”.

Services were not available because patients are not being discharged quick enough, the report also says.

One of the reasons patients are not leaving hospital quickly enough as there are not enough social services beds in the community, it adds.

And the report says: “It is not anticipated that performance will improve dramatically.”

The news comes after inspectors slammed the care trust and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council over its social services, run as a partnership between the two since 2006.

To read the report download this folder and then open 2009.270 Corporate Performance Report Oct 2009_1.

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