6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on ambulance response times in Powys? OAQ51885A

In January, 68.3 per cent of red calls in Powys received a response within eight minutes. The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust continues to work with the health board, the voluntary sector and fire and rescue service partners to improve responsiveness in rural areas like Powys where it can be more difficult to predict the focus of demand.

Cabinet Secretary, can I thank you for your answer? I have to say, since November, I have received a significant increase in concerns reporting worrying delays in the time it takes for an ambulance to arrive following a 999 call. It seems, by the questions being put to you over the last couple of days, that that's increasing as well in terms of Members.

Now, I have to say, there's one incident of a constituent who fell over on the street in Newtown and waited an hour and a half on a cold pavement for the ambulance to arrive. In that time, the constituent's situation seriously deteriorated. I have to say, I wrote to the ambulance trust, and what they said to me was that this was unacceptable. But they also said it was unfortunate and unavoidable, and they went on to say to me that, of the nine emergency vehicles available in the Powys locality, seven were waiting outside hospitals to transfer patients to the care of hospital staff.

Now, this does seem to be an issue that specifically revolves around Wrexham Maelor, unfortunately, as well. I have to say, this weekend I had a further issue raised with me of a Welshpool resident waiting seven hours for an ambulance to arrive. I'm not expecting you to comment on these specific examples, but these are very distressing, of course, for the patient, distressing for those waiting with the patient, and very frustrating for the ambulance and paramedic staff who do a great job in supporting when they arrive there as well.

Can I ask you: I would be grateful if you could provide me with details about what you are doing to prevent the handover times at hospitals causing these delays? I'm sure you will agree that these incidents are unacceptable, and that these incidents are unfortunately increasing.

Yes, I recognise the picture you're painting and the fact that, through this winter, we've had more people wait too long to receive a service, and I don't try to claim that that is acceptable at all. There's a challenge to understand what we need to do across our system to improve that, indeed including choices about capacity or not, but you highlight one of our challenges, which is lost hours and handover challenges in particular. Now, the guidance that has been given out in emergency departments actually looks to make sure that people are swiftly handed over from the ambulance into the emergency department, and there are challenges in different units around Wales about the ability to do so as rapidly as we see, for example, in Cwm Taf, which has always been—well, certainly in the last few winters—the exemplar of rapid handovers, and managing the risk within an emergency department rather than having an unmanaged risk within the community if ambulances are held up.

I recognise the distress for individual citizens and their families and also the frustration for staff. There is a programme of work going on within Wales about that. The clinical director for unscheduled care, Jo Mower, who is a consultant from the Heath, is looking to have that conversation with colleagues around the country about improving practice, but, of course, we now highlight the lost hours that are provided. It wasn't something that was initially put into the public domain. It is regularly, as a result of the new system we've introduced—. But your concern about Powys isn't a particular issue about Wrexham Maelor, because I have to say that the bulk of handover delays affecting Powys patients in the last two months are actually at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. There is a challenge in both Wrexham and Bronglais to be addressed, but the largest part of the challenge affecting your constituents is actually Shrewsbury.