NHS Grampian chief Adam Coldwells has laid out how a “rapid release” plan could put an end to the ambulance queuing crisis blighting Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI).
Increasingly often, paramedics been stuck for hours outside ARI, with patients in the back of ambulances waiting to be treated in the hospital’s A&E department.
With those vital vehicles stacking up outside the facility, concerns are mounting about a lack of resources to send to emergencies elsewhere.
But at today’s NHS Grampian board meeting, interim chief executive Mr Coldwells put forth his plan to end the ambulance queueing crisis at ARI
The Press and Journal spoke to Mr Coldwells afterwards about his way out of the predicament…
And he exclusively revealed how a £17m plan to install 120 more beds is picking up pace.
Ambulance crisis ‘absolutely not where we want it to be’ says ARI boss
At Thursday morning’s crunch meeting, Mr Coldwells told board members about the “huge amount of work” being carried out looking at ways to redress ambulance queuing at ARI.
He admitted: “We know it is absolutely not where we want it to be.”
The meeting came following worsening coverage of the dire situation.
Ambulances have been made to wait up to nine hours with patients in the back due to bed availability and staffing pressures.
One ambulance worker told The Press and Journal that one night this year saw up to 18 mercy vehicles stacked in front of ARI, about “half of the north-east’s fleet”.
The crisis came to a head in May, when no ambulances were available to attend the scene when a one-year-old girl died after being struck by a car in Balmedie.
So how will this be fixed?
Mr Coldwells said that the plan was to improve every moving part of the hospital’s system, so ambulances could be freed up more quickly.
He explained that the crisis is the culmination of a series of small problems, relating to when people arrive all the way up to when they are discharged. And these will all need to be tackled.
If these are all “slightly” under-performing, then it means the whole process is in trouble.
‘No quick fix’: Aberdeen ambulance problems could take months to solve
Hospital heads in Aberdeen are now looking to speed up how quickly people are taken through various departments, and “making sure we can do that rapidly where we need to”.
Mr Coldwells told the meeting: “If someone becomes unwell and needs to get access very quickly, then we need to have a cohesive plan… But there is not a quick fix for this.”
He said it could take a “number of months” to “improve flow through the system at multiple points”.
Mr Coldwells later told The Press and Journal that daily work was ongoing between ambulance bosses and the hospital to alleviate queuing in the short term.
He said: “We have escalation plans between the Scottish Ambulance Service and our emergency department so that they can work together on a day-to-day basis…
“And that is aimed to improve the number of ambulances that are queuing.”
What else is being improved at ARI to fix ambulance crisis?
Mr Coldwells’ plan revolves around improvements to all areas of the hospital.
He told the Press and Journal that ARI was on track to meet its 120 new beds target it set back in October, with 30 being installed in March.
A shortage had been described as an “exit block” when it comes to freeing up space in the emergency department.
Recruitment is another field in which ARI bosses are looking to improve on.
Mr Coldwells said that ARI is currently using temporary staff “in quite a number of places in the hospital” as recruitment “isn’t at at the full level that we want”.
These will continue to be deployed at A&E in a bid to accelerate treatment.
What would success look like to NHS chiefs?
And how will he know if the plan has worked?
“I think for our overall plan, success is that we have no queuing ambulances”, he answered.
“If there’s s rapid turnaround of of ambulances when they arrive at any of our hospitals, that that will be success, and that’s what we’re absolutely striving for.”
Have you been affected by the recent ambulance crisis at ARI? Let us know in our comments section below
Read more:
- Exclusive: No ambulances available to send to tragic Balmedie toddler due to five-hour queues at ARI
- 96-year-old woman had to wait in ambulance for nine hours outside ARI
- ARI ambulance waiting time crisis laid bare during ‘unannounced’ inspection
- Ambulances stack up outside ARI as NHS Grampian pleads with public to attend only in life-threatening situations
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