GMB Union, representing ambulance workers and paramedics across the East Midlands, has today responded to the crisis announced at one of Nottingham’s busiest A&E’s.
Nottingham University Hospital Trust announced a critical incident at Queens’ Medical Centre (QMC) Hospital, due to an extreme backlog in A&E services.
Workers raised the alarm after reports 38 ambulances were parked outside QMC on Sunday evening, with patients and paramedics forced to wait inside their vehicles for as long as 12 hours.
The incident saw almost the entire ambulance fleet of Nottinghamshire Division for East Midlands Ambulance Service stuck waiting in hospital parking bays, unable to respond to other urgent 999 calls in the community.
Anonymous feedback from crews on this day includes cases of:
- “A 94-year-old patient on the back of an Ambulance for 10 hours with pressure sores and confusion”.
- “An 88-year-old patient who was pre alerted with Sepsis and confusion – 4 hours wait to be allowed into the department”.
- “An 80-year-old patient with a head injury, on blood thinners with diarrhoea was on an Ambulance for 10 hours before admittance”.
Colin Todd, GMB Organiser, said:
“Gone are the days when ambulance crews would be on station waiting for the next call, the truth is almost 24 hours a day our ambulance teams are responding to 999 calls.
“Ambulance workers, paramedics and colleagues across the emergency department and NHS go above and beyond for patients, every single day.
“There is a deep sense of frustration amongst them that this has been allowed to happen; we’ve long warned that the building pressure is driving on our service to breaking point.
“Ambulances are the most underfunded, yet most over analysed and scrutinised part of our NHS.
“This is a crisis waiting to happen; it could happen again next week and patients would again be left without the critical support our members provide.
“This is an issue that has been building for years; now patients are suffering.
“We need a root and branch action plan to resolve the crisis in emergency, primary and social care”
