Royal Stoke delays add to ambulance service's 'worst handover rate' in country

It's 'pretty bad' says director, adding that figure equals that of 5 others put together

- Kerry Ashdown

WEST Midlands Ambulance Service is facing the worst level of hospital handover delays in the country 'by some margin', it has revealed.

Last month more than 8,000 lost hours were caused by delays at Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire hospitals, primarily the Royal Stoke.

In October, ambulance crews lost 41,000 hours waiting outside hospitals to transfer patients, Staffordshire county councillors were told. The number of lost hours has more than doubled in recent months as winter pressures begin to bite.

In November 2023 the service called for an independent review of resources in a bid to improve performance. The council's Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee backed this at the time - and a fresh plea was made by senior service members at Monday's meeting.

Two years ago the committee heard the service covering Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent was failing to meet response time targets. Since then improvements have been seen, but hospital handover delays are having an impact, councillors were told.