Heatwave on top of 'black alert' for ambulance crews

The West Midlands Ambulance Service has been on 'black alert' (REAP 4) for 'a number of months'. Now staff - and patients - are braced for things to get even worse.

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The impending heatwave will put pressure on a service already struggling to cope, partly because of increased demand but also the patient bottleneck at hospitals, including Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester.

A surge of Covid-19 patients in Worcester has added to the pressure.

PRESSURE: Ambulances stuck outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital with temperatures (and pressure on crews) set to rise

A rare amber extreme heat warning has been issued - and now extended - by the Met Office to cover Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Temperatures will rise significantly this weekend. But how hot will it get where you are? ☀️

Here's our latest 10 Day Trend with Aidan 👇 pic.twitter.com/ng7w7GD4v1

— Met Office (@metoffice) July 13, 2022

NHS staff are braced for the crisis to deepen with a warning that temperatures could soar to 40C, breaking previous records.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust last week opened a new 29-bedded Acute Medical Unit, and this week a 21-bed Pathway Discharge Unit to create extra capacity and ease pressure on the system.

READ MORE on health impact of heatwave here

PRESSURE: A&E at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester. Pressure at the hospital and social care has a knock-on effect on the ambulance service

An ambulance trust spokesman said the service always sees a 'significant rise' in 999 calls during temperature extremes.

More people tend to be outside so emergency calls come in from incident locations 'not in a named road' meaning call assessors have to use location identification technology to find patients.

Added pressure is caused by injuries sustained during outdoor activities – sunburn, barbecue burns, trips and falls. 

The heat can also worsen symptoms for people with chronic breathing problems.

A spokesperson said: "One of the things we particularly notice is that elderly people don’t drink enough - this can lead to urinary infections which can really affect them quite badly.

"They can appear confused, dizzy or lightheaded, and on occasions collapse or fall which can lead to more complex issues such as broken bones and so on. Dark yellow or strong smelling wee is a good warning sign that you are dehydrated."

He added: "If people are out in the sun with no protection, they can get into difficulty quite quickly if they aren’t wearing suncream, dressing sensibly and not drinking enough. While many people like a cold beer after a day in the sun, non-alcoholic drinks are actually a much better option.

"We do have cases where people have called us because they have got sunburnt and in extreme cases actually have really nasty burns from not being prepared which can result in long term skin damage and the resultant risk from skin cancers and so on."

The ambulance service has reported 'handover delays' when paramedics get marooned at hospital.

A trust spokesman said: “The ambulance service relies on each part of the health and social care system working together so that our ambulances can get to patients in the community quickly.

"Sadly, the pressures we are seeing in health and social care lead to long hospital handover delays with our crews left caring for patients that need admitting to hospital rather than responding to the next call.

"The result is that our crews are delayed reaching patients.

"We are working incredibly hard with all of our NHS and social care partners to prevent these delays.”

Matthew Hopkins, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said:  “Demand on our hospital services remains very high with our staff facing unprecedented numbers of patients seeking urgent and emergency care. 

"We continue to work closely with West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) colleagues, GPs, community nurses and social workers to explore all possible ways of safely reducing waiting times and improving ambulance handovers, and we thank them for their continued focus.

“Despite our best efforts, the current level of demand on our emergency departments means some patients are waiting for longer than we would like, and we would like to apologise to them for that.

"Managing the beds we have available for patients who need an emergency admission is also being made more challenging by increasing numbers of patients infected with Covid-19, as well as those who do not have Covid."