- Cymraeg
- English
 |
Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
 |
Outrageous scandal of 4,034 ‘lost ambulance hours’ in Bridgend
January 17, 2011 8:40 PM
Shocking figures uncovered by the Welsh Liberal Democrats have revealed 4,034 hours of emergency ambulance cover are being lost in Bridgend's Princess of Wales Hospital while crews wait to hand patients over to hospital staff.
Guidelines set by the Labour Health Minister currently state that the wait to hand over responsibility of a patient to nursing staff should be no longer than 20 minutes, but the target is clearly not being met.
The Welsh Ambulance Service calculates that the cost of a 'lost unit hour' is £76 which means that time wasted in Accident & Emergency cost the Health Trust £306,584 over the past two years in Princess of Wales Hospital alone.
Apart from causing distress to patients waiting to be transferred to the A&E department, pressure is put on ambulance crews who need to respond to other emergency calls in the area.
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Minister for South Wales West, Peter Black said:
"This is yet another example of the failure of the Labour and Plaid government in Cardiff. They have had long enough in charge of the Welsh Government to have got this right.
"To have our paramedics and hospital staff put under pressure like this is not acceptable. They do an excellent job, often in difficult circumstances.
"Patients too are suffering needless distress as a result.
"It is clear that it is Labour and Plaid's incompetent management of the Welsh NHS that is responsible for this sorry state of affairs.
"They are letting both NHS staff and local people down.
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats