He warns patients are “dying every day” from avoidable causes due to ambulance delays.
West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) is at risk of collapsing entirely this summer, its nursing director has warned.
Director of Nursing at WMAS Mark Docherty said in an interview with the Health Service Journal (HSJ) that his service is likely to collapse “Around August 17” due to unrelenting pressures on the service.
He warns that currently, patients are “dying every day” from avoidable causes due to ambulance delays.
Mr Docherty also questioned why NHS England and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) were not more proactive about the issue and stepping in to help.
Resources lost to delays.
WMAS says it has seen the number of serious incidents quadruple in the last year due to hospital waits of up to 24 hours.
He explained, “I’ve been asked how I can be so specific, but that date is when a third of our resource [will be] lost to delays, and that will mean we just can’t respond.”
“It will be a mathematical [certainty] that this thing is sinking, and it will be pretty much beyond the tipping point by then.”
He added: “It would make me the happiest person in the world if everyone in the system proves to me that actually the ambulance service in the West Midlands isn’t going to fail on August 17, and I’ve got it completely wrong.”
Documents from a quality governance meeting at the trust in March reveal others also have serious concerns about the Trust’s ability to deliver care. Another director said, “deaths are happening which should not be happening”.
Relentless pressure.
National data shows NHS Trusts in England are consistently missing key targets, including response times, due to relentless pressure on services.
An NHS spokesman added, “The NHS has been working hard to reduce ambulance delays and £150m of additional system funding has been allocated for ambulance service pressures in 2022-23.
“There is no doubt the NHS still faces pressures, and the latest figures are another reminder of the crucial importance of community and social care, in helping people in hospital leave when they are fit to do so, not just because it is better for them but because it helps free up precious NHS bed space.”
