Agenda item

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust has been asked to provide a report setting out waiting time performance at the trust. They have also been asked to provide details of ambulance transfer times from Central Middlesex Hospital to Northwick Park, the numbers of transfers and the time they have taken.

Paul Jankowiak (North West London Hospitals NHS Trust) introduced the report which set out Accident and Emergency (A and E) waiting times over the last six months.  He began by advising that the Department of Health’s NHS Performance Management Framework set out a performance indicator that required 95% patients to be seen within four hours.  He referred the table in the report outlining the performance of Central Middlesex Hospital, Northwick Park Hospital and the Trust overall.  Paul Jankowiak advised that the targets were being met consistently since March 2012.

Councillor Daly sought confirmation that Northwick Park hospital received the largest number of A and E visitors and in noting that some patients had been waiting too long in February and March, she asked how they were dealt with.  She also asked for further data with regard to what happened to A and E patients when they arrived, including how many had arrived by ambulance and those who were seriously ill.  Councillor Daly asked if there were specific plans in place in respect of the Olympics.  Councillor Leaman asked for further details about waiting times for those patients who had to wait longer than four hours to be seen.

The Chair enquired why ambulance transfer times had not been provided as this had been the committee’s wish.

With the approval of the Chair, Councillor Cheese also addressed the committee and commented that the ambulance service would be under additional pressure during the Olympics, especially those ambulances needing to do patient transfers via Wembley and he enquired what steps were in place to address this.  Maurice Hoffman (Brent LINk) also addressed the committee and he enquired whether the average A and E waiting times were in effect being lowered by the Urgent Care Centres (UCC) and did waiting times vary depending on the time of day.

In reply, Paul Jankowiak explained that he thought it was the number of transfers being on target that were of particular interest to the committee and he stated that information could be provided on ambulance transfer times.  Those who were deemed seriously ill received treatment within four hours.  Paul Jankowiak confirmed that waiting times did include those patients treated by the UCCs and waiting times increased in the early hours of the morning and late evening. 

David Cheesman (North West London Hospitals Trust) added that the UCC was effectively part of the same department as A and E and waiting times were also affected depending on the time of year, particularly during winter and capacity was scheduled accordingly.  He advised that Northwick Park hospital had struggled with rising demand initially, however recent improvements in how it handled A and E cases were reflected in a boost to performance.  Nurses would decide whether patients needed to go to A and E or treated at the UCC and patients categorised as ‘type one’ would go to A and E.  David Cheesman explained that the waiting times were calculated from the moment the patient entered the hospital and he confirmed that a breakdown of figures with regard to waiting times including ambulance transfer times and those arriving by ambulance could be provided.  Members noted that a large number of patients, for example, were submitted to the Stroke Clinic.  David Cheesman advised that a number of measures were in place in respect of the Olympics and annual leave requests were being monitored during this period, whilst staff accommodation was also available on all sites.  He acknowledged that the ambulance service could potentially be under more strain during the Olympics and the service was involved in planning for this period to ensure a resilient service could be provided.  Members heard that figures were not immediately available regarding how long patients had waited where they had not been seen within four hours, however there were no examples of it exceeding 12 hours, which nationally was deemed as unacceptable.

The Chair requested that information be sent to Andrew Davies (Policy Officer, Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) with regard to the number of ambulance transfers and their transfer times for Central Middlesex and Northwick Park hospitals.