“Unacceptable” – ambulances’ lengthy hospital waits revealed

Monthly average ambulance waits of 2,000 hours outside the Grange hospital have been branded “unacceptable” by a Senedd Member.

The figures, released to Plaid Cymru under the Freedom of Information Act, show the lengthy waits crews have endured outside the Cwmbran hospital.

The party’s Peredur Owen Griffiths, who is the MS for the South Wales East region, said the Welsh Government needed to get a grip on the situation ahead of anticipated extreme winter pressures later this year.

He said: “These delays for patients and ambulance crews are unacceptable.

“The ambulance service is stretched by the inability of hospitals like The Grange to admit patients in a timely fashion.

“With ambulances routinely lined up outside the Grange, this inevitably causes lengthy delays in response times for people who need ambulances in emergencies.

“I feel for the patients, the ambulance crews and indeed the hospital staff who are receiving patients who are often fed up and frustrated after being made to wait in ambulances for inordinate amounts of time.”

He added: “The deepening cost-of-living crisis is likely to have a huge impact on the NHS with more and more people being forced into poverty and hunger this winter.”

He said “system failures” needed to be sorted and called on Health Minister Eluned Morgan to order an urgent review.

He said: “She needs to get a grip on the situation and identify solutions so our cherished health service is better prepared for the onslaught that is heading its way this winter.”

The Grange was opened in November 2020 six months early in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but was not officially opened by First Minister Mark Drakeford until August 2021.

Since the hospital started admitted patients in November 2020, ambulances have spent more than 2,000 hours waiting outside every month bar three.

In one month alone, ambulance crews lost 3,155 hours.

With A&Es across the UK facing increased pressures, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has urged people to only go to the Grange with serious or life-threatening illnesses or injuries.

Dr Alastair Richards, clinical director at the Grange, said: “We are currently seeing around a 30% increase in the number of patients in the emergency department, compared to a usual busy day.

“We know that around 300 people who turn up at the Grange University Hospital each week have minor illnesses that could be treated elsewhere. With things as they are at the moment, people attending with such minor illnesses are likely to be waiting a very long time to be seen.”

People with minor injuries have been urged to visit other hospitals in the health board area, such as Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr and the Royal Gwent.

The issue of ambulance response times was raised in the Senedd on Tuesday, October 18 – sparking a furious exchange between First Minister Mark Drakeford and Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies.

During First Minister’s Questions, Mr Davies called for the Welsh Government to act on poor ambulance response times.

In response, a visibly angry Mr Drakeford referenced the ongoing crisis at the heart of the UK Conservative Government under Liz Truss’ premiership. Raising his voice at Mr Davies, who backed Ms Truss in the recent leadership election, the First Minister said it was “shocking that you can turn up here this afternoon with the mess that your party has made to the budgets of this country, to the reputation of this country around the world… you think you turn up here this afternoon and claim some sort of moral high ground. What sort of world do you belong in?”

The Welsh Government has said it is “deeply concerned” by the “eye-watering scale of cuts facing public services in Wales” from the UK Government.