{"id":5671,"date":"2025-03-11T09:36:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T09:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oreillystewart.com\/?p=5671"},"modified":"2025-03-11T09:36:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T09:36:55","slug":"risk-of-harm-to-patients-due-to-ambulance-handover-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oreillystewart.com\/risk-of-harm-to-patients-due-to-ambulance-handover-delays\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRisk of Harm\u201d to Patients due to Ambulance Handover Delays"},"content":{"rendered":"

BBC News NI reports today that the Northern Ireland\u2019s Auditor General has found that there has been a \u201cdramatic deterioration\u201d<\/em> in ambulance handover performance. It is noted that approximately 3,800 patients were potentially subjected to severe harm last year due to such delays.<\/p>\n

It is also reported that potentially more than 36,000 patients may have experienced some harm and that delayed handovers cost about \u00a350 million over the past five years.<\/p>\n

Whilst targets require that all handovers should be complete within 15 minutes, delays lasting hours including one of 23 hours have been cited in this report. It is also noted that the Ulster Hospital has consistently recorded the longest handover times. In addition, there is also an increasing reliance on private ambulances but they remain unregulated.<\/p>\n

The Auditor General has made recommendations for improvement including the need for Health and Social Care Trusts to implement decisive measures to improve ambulance handovers urgently.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health has also acknowledged the risk of harm to patients and that a whole system approach is required in order to improve the overall flow of patients through the health system.<\/p>\n

This news is again alarming for patients, their families and those working within the health service and it is imperative that measures are put in place without delay in order to avoid harm and potentially preventable deaths.<\/p>\n

To view the full BBC NI article, click here:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cewk4r4nen5o<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC News NI reports today that the Northern Ireland\u2019s Auditor General has found that there has been a \u201cdramatic deterioration\u201d in ambulance handover performance. It is noted that approximately 3,800 patients were potentially subjected to severe harm last year due to such delays. It is also reported that potentially more than 36,000 patients may have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"class_list":["post-5671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cRisk of Harm\u201d to Patients due to Ambulance Handover Delays - O\u2019Reilly Stewart Solicitors - Belfast, Northern Ireland, Legal Firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cRisk of harm\u201d to patients due to ambulance handover delays\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oreillystewart.com\/risk-of-harm-to-patients-due-to-ambulance-handover-delays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cRisk of Harm\u201d to Patients due to Ambulance Handover Delays - 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