Handover delays potentially causing significant harm

The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives has revealed the extent of potential harm that is being caused to patients when they must wait in the back of ambulances or in corridors before they are accepted into the care of their local hospital.

A structured clinical review of handover delays at hospital emergency departments across England found that  the proportion of patients who could be experiencing unacceptable levels of preventable harm is significant. Over eight in ten of those whose ‘handover’ (from ambulance clinician to hospital clinician) was delayed beyond 60 minutes were assessed as having potentially experienced some level of harm; 53 per cent low harm, 23 per cent moderate harm and nine per cent (one patient in ten) could have been said to have experienced severe harm.

The nationally defined target for hospitals included in the NHS Standard Contract states that all handovers between ambulance and A&E must take place within 15 minutes, with none waiting more than 30 minutes. Since April 2018, an average of 190,000 handovers have missed this target every month (accounting for around half of all handovers) while in September 2021 over 208,000 exceeded the 15-minute target.