NEWS
Health Foundation calls for action on increase in handover delays
An increase in handover delays – the time an ambulance spends waiting outside a hospital before transferring a patient – is a major cause of the decline in ambulance re- sponse times, new analysis from the Health Foundation has found.
The analysis of ambulance service
performance in England found that the percentage of handover times exceeding 60 minutes was seven times higher in July 2022 than in 2019.
The analysis also shows that patients are facing record-breaking ambulance waiting times, with patients in April to March 2021/22 waiting 18% longer than they would have waited in April to March 2018/19 for the most critical calls. For non-urgent cases that still require an ambulance response, waits have more than doubled to an average of over three hours. As ambulance services are stretched, the increases in handover times are magnified, leading to far greater increases in average
response times. Long ambulance handover times signal system-wide challenges and have devastating consequences for patients and their families. Rising times suggest different parts of the system – from social care to hospitals – are under severe strain, putting patients’ lives at risk.
The increase in ambulance handover delays is largely being driven by the lack of hospital bed capacity and delays in discharging patients, the report concludes. To ease this pressure, the analysis states that there needs to be greater investment in social care and community services. To address increasing ambulance waiting times, the Health Foundation is now calling for a whole system approach with greater investment in: hospital capacity and flow through hospital with more beds and more staff; out of hospital care, including social care; and community services, such as mental health services, which can prevent health conditions becoming crises.
People with Long COVID face stigma
The majority of people living with Long COVID experience some form of stigma related to their condition, according to a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton and Brighton and Sussex Medical School and co-designed by people living with Long COVID (from the charity Long COVID Support). More than 1100 people took part, including 966 people from the UK, and were asked about their experiences of stigma in three areas: enacted stigma where individuals were directly treated unfairly due to their health condition; internalised stigma where people felt embarrassed or ashamed of their health condition, and anticipated stigma,
which is the individual’s expectation they will be treated poorly because of their condition. Ninety-five percent of people experienced at least one type of stigma at least ‘sometimes’, and 76% experiencing it ‘often’ or ‘always’, according to the results. Nearly two thirds (63%) of people reported experiences of stigma such as being treated with less respect or people they care about stopping contact with them due to their health condition, while 91% expected to experience stigma and discrimination, for example they thought many people did not consider Long COVID to be a real illness. 61% of people said they were very careful who they tell about their condition, and about one third (34%) regretted having told people about it.
Action needed to stop ‘senseless
waste of talent’ Healthcare leaders and employers must act to stop the ‘senseless waste’ of thousands of doctors quitting the NHS each year, General Medical Council (GMC) chief executive, Charlie Massey has warned. A new report commissioned by the GMC, titled: Understanding doctors’ decisions to migrate from the UK, has identified pull factors, such as the pursuit of new opportunities and adventure abroad, alongside push factors, including poor working conditions, wellbeing issues and inflexible career paths. Around half the doctors who give up their licence to practise in the UK each year are thought to be intending to continue their medical careers abroad.
Charlie Massey commented: “Last
year, nearly 10,000 doctors gave up their licence to practise. This represents a huge loss, to their employers, their colleagues and, most importantly, to their patients. For some it is the pull of new opportunities and adventure abroad. But there is more to it than that. “Poor working conditions and well being issues are pushing practitioners out. The research found that overwork and poor work-life balance were factors in almost all migration decisions. Doctors who may otherwise have had long ca- reers in this country are voting with their feet, and it’s draining the system of talent it cannot afford to lose.”
He added that he next few years will be the hardest the NHS has faced: “There are more than 350,000 doctors on our register. Think what a difference it would make if every one of them stayed in UK practice even six months longer.”
JANUARY 2023
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