Patients are being left with heart failure and thousands are missing out on vital stroke treatment as ambulances and A&E delays “decompress” life-saving NHS care. Independent has learned.
Many doctors report heart attack care is “going back in time” and increasing avoidable deaths Independent, As new figures show that more than half of patients Needy care receiving it on time – a 10 percent decrease compared to 2020-21.
Doctors have written to the secretary for health and social care, Steve Barclay, and NHS medical director Stephen Powis this week, warning of “unnecessary deaths” due to these delays.
Professor Martin James, a consultant who specializes in stroke, said the latest NHS data up to September 2022 shows that 1 in 1,000 people a year are not getting the kind of vital stroke treatment they received before the pandemic . According to the National Stroke Audit in 2021-22, only 40 per cent of patients received the care they needed within four hours of the onset of their stroke.
warnings come later Independent Nearly 6,000 patients could face “severe”, long-lasting or permanent harm because of delayed ambulances outside hospitals, it has been revealed.
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director and consultant cardiologist at the British Heart Foundation, said the scale of the deterioration and the “exorbitant” delay meant “the damage is already done” with patients not getting help.
“Tackling the cardiac crisis is possible, but it needs decisive action now. This means having more cardiac doctors, and nurses, to match demand while ensuring adequate and fit-for-purpose specialist heart-care facilities , and increasing the workforce of cardiac physiologists.
Are you impressed by this story? Email rebecca.thomas@independent.co.uk
NHS England is due to face questions from MPs on Tuesday over the link between rising deaths and delays in emergency care.
A&E delays are worsening due to difficulties admitting patients, with record delays for ambulance crews waiting to drop off patients, meaning fewer staff are available to respond to emergencies.
Dr Tom Johnson, a senior cardiologist at South West, told Independent Acute heart attack care within the UK has been significantly affected over the past six to 12 months.
He added: “Over 10 to 15 years we have successfully built a strong network, from pre-hospital to hospital care to cardiac rehabilitation, depend on an incredible ambulance service, and can effectively deliver this in the space of 6 to 12 months. has been destroyed.
“We’ve got patients who present later, and are sicker, [who are] Sometimes beyond the point of curative treatment. Our failure to attend and transport patients with suspected heart attacks to the hospital has resulted in serious emergencies being diverted from immediate medical care, and at worst death can be avoided.
Dr Johnson said the government has a “huge responsibility” to acknowledge and address the problems facing the NHS, and its focus on “greater productivity” is misguided.
“However, the public also have a responsibility to protect their NHS service through the appropriate use of emergency services, ensuring ambulance teams are available to attend to the sickest patients as quickly as possible,” he said.
New figures from the national audit of heart-attack response times carried out by the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS), which were shared at a closed conference on Friday, show a 10 per cent drop between 2021-22 and the following year. Patients receiving care within 90 minutes and 150 minutes after a 999 call for a heart attack.
talking to IndependentBCIS council member, Professor Mamas Mamas, said because of ambulance delays, many more patients are being treated with “clot-busting” drugs instead of the open-heart procedure known as primary PCI.
The service was “going back in time,” he said, adding that physicians were forced to use these drugs, which moved from treatment protocols 15 years ago, because patients did not arrive in time for PCI procedures to be performed. Were staying
He added that patients who are not given this procedure within a certain time are more likely to develop heart failure.
The latest figures for excess mortality published by the Office for National Statistics include almost 10,000 deaths from heart failure in 2022. This compares with just over 7,000 in 2021 and 6,358 in 2020.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are taking urgent action to improve access, and last week, the Secretary of Health and Social Care called for urgent measures to reduce hospital bed occupancy, ease pressure on A&E, And unblock the delay in handing over patients from ambulance.
“This is on top of a £500m discharge fund to speed up the safe discharge of patients who are medically fit to leave hospital, increasing NHS hospital capacity by the equivalent of 7,000 more beds this winter, and 24/7 Establishment of data-driven system control centers in each local area to manage demand and capacity.