Ambulances failing to get to you on time

ALMOST a quarter of ambulance callouts of the highest emergency in the Hywel Dda UHB area wait more than twice than target waiting time.

“Red calls” are lifethreatening emergencies.

“Life-threatening” means someone is very ill and might die if they do not get help immediately.

The target for such urgent cases is reaching 75% of patients needing emergency treatment within eight minutes.

That target, set by the Welsh Government, has never been met.

A close analysis of Welsh Government data for June 2023 shows fewer than half of all red calls in the Hywel Dda UHB area are reached within eight minutes.

The number of recorded red calls in the local health board area in June was 448.

If approximately one-quarter waited for longer than the target time, that equates to around 110 individuals with immediately lifethreatening conditions waiting for sixteen minutes.

More shockingly, almost 4% of emergency patients, around EIGHTEEN people, waited for an ambulance for over thirty minutes.

The data does not allow further interrogation of the outcomes those patients experienced. However, failing to reach patients with lifethreatening conditions in good time can only increase the probability of adverse outcomes.

The statistics are one thing. In stark black and white without context, e data are meaningless. Instead, consider the issue this way: every patient waiting is another human being suffering and possibly dying for medical attention.

Those human beings aren’t numbers on a table. They are potentially our family members and friends waiting for help that arrives too late. When considering that, add the trauma suffered by those waiting with them, calling and checking when an ambulance would arrive in increasing desperation.

At Withybush Hospital, over 3,750 people attended A&E. Just under 500 people waited more than twelve hours for treatment. Glangwili, with 700 more A&E patients, “overtook” Withybush by performing marginally better in percentage terms.

The Welsh Government’s target for A&E waits is 100% within twelve hours.

Both Withybush’s and Glangwili’s figures are tiny improvements over May’s.

And, if waiting a long time in A&E seems more common, that observation extends even more to those waiting for treatment for long-term health conditions.

Of the 5,500 in the Health Board area waiting more than 14 weeks for an initial diagnosis before referral, over 1,700 are waiting for diagnosis services at Withybush, where a staggering 21,500 out of 38,000 waiting across the ENTIRE health board await diagnosis.

Following diagnosis, over 25,000 people wait more than 36 weeks for referrals to treatment in the Hywel Dda UHB area.

The director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, Darren Hughes, gave a bleaker and starker assessment.

“The latest figures show performance remained at similar levels in May and June compared to April and May, particularly in planned care.

“However, May saw the highest recorded demand for average daily attendance to emergency departments (EDs). Despite this, ED performance increased slightly against the four and twelve-hour targets. That shows the staff’s incredible determination and hard work in adversity.

“It’s clear that pressure on services no longer falls into ‘summer’ and ‘winter’ categories, giving staff and services little room to breathe. Unless governments make wider system and societal changes, we cannot expect these exceptional demand levels to fall.

“We need an open and honest conversation with the public about the future health and care service. It must be centred on an adequately and sustainably funded NHS, an NHS that is taking care and prevention to people and their communities, an NHS that empowers and enables, and one that benefits from improving public health. It must be based on an ambitious and honest partnership between the NHS and those it serves.

“It is for the population and all sectors across Wales to ask what they can do to support the health and well-being of people now and in the future. Change must happen. It’s simply not an option to stay as we are.”

Dr Suresh Pillai, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Wales, said: data for Wales does not paint a full picture. Some patients continue to be classified as ‘breach exemptions’, experiencing waits of 12 hours or more but excluded from the data due to clinical and operational processes.

“We urge the Welsh government to ensure data are transparent and meaningful so that no patient is hidden. To tackle the delays in Emergency Care, we must see the true scale of dangerously long delays and abolish these 12-hour’ breach exemptions’.

“Bed occupancy continues to be dangerously high, leading to exit block –where patients cannot be moved through the system.

“At this time of year, we expect to see an easing of pressures on the Emergency Care system. However, many patients still faced long waits in Welsh Emergency Departments in June.

“Additionally, the

“There must be renewed efforts around timely hospital discharges to free up beds, improve hospital flow, and reduce dangerous overcrowding and delays in Emergency Departments.”

OLIVER DOWLING born 2004, and residing at Kingswood Road, Kilgetty appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (Jul 18). Dowling faced a charge of failing to provide a specimen for analysis as a vehicle driver, a contravention of section 7(6) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. The incident occurred on 18th June 2023 in Haverfordwest when he was suspected of driving a motor vehicle and required to provide a sample of breath pursuant to section 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 during an investigation into whether he had committed an offence under section 3A, 4, 5, or 5A thereof. He allegedly failed to provide the sample without a reasonable excuse. During the proceedings, Mr. Dowling did not enter a plea and was released on remand unconditional bail. The next hearing in the magistrates’ court is scheduled for July 25. The court granted an adjournment, as the defendant is currently undergoing hospital treatment, and medical evidence is to be provided on the next occasion.

Luke Butland, born 2001, and residing at Stranraer Road, Pennar, Pembroke Dock, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, July 18. Butland faced a charge of driving a Volkswagen Golf with registration index UKZ 7075 on Devonshire Road, Pembroke Dock, Wales, in January, with a proportion of the controlled drug Delta-9Terahydrocannabinol in his blood exceeding the specified limit allowed by law. As a result of his guilty plea, the court imposed the following penalties:

Costs to Crown

Prosecution Service: £85.00

Surcharge: £120.00

Collection order: Payments to be made as ordered by the court, with instalments of £100.00 monthly starting from 15th August 2023.

Obligatory disqualification from driving for 12 months. Fine: £300.00

RYAN PHILLIPS, 20, of Wooden, Saundersfoot, admitted driving without due care and attention at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on July 5.

He admitted that on December 11, he rode a Suzuki GSF motorcycle on the B4318 Heatherton, Pembrokeshire, without due care and attention.

He was given five points on his licence and ordered to pay £181 fine, £72 surcharge and £110 costs.

A FEMALE shoplifter who stole almost £1,000 worth of food items from a Pembrokeshire shop has been jailed.

Kristie Meachen, 36, of St Teilo Street, Pontarddulais, admitted two charges at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on July 14.

The first charge was for theft from a shop, which related to her stealing £949.99 worth of food items from Marks and Spencer, Haverfordwest, on December 21.