Health Secretary Victoria Atkins summons bosses of five worst-performing A&E sites and tells them to ‘buck up their ideas this winter’

The Health Secretary has launched a crackdown on some of the worst-performing NHS trusts this winter.

Victoria Atkins summoned the bosses of the five trusts with the some of the longest A&E waiting times and ambulance handovers to a meeting.

It is understood the CEOs from University Hospitals Plymouth Trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, Gloucestershire Hospitals FT, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust and Worcester Hospital attended the virtual meeting with the Secretary of State.

It follows reports of emergency patients were being kept waiting in ambulances for 10 hours in some areas while hospitals prioritised existing patients.

It is understood the CEOs from University Hospitals Plymouth Trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, Gloucestershire Hospitals FT, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust and Worcester Hospital attended the virtual meeting with the Secretary of State

A source close to the Health Secretary said they were told ‘in no uncertain terms’ that their performance not acceptable and they would be closely monitored this winter. Pictured, Victoria Atkins leaving Downing Street today

While ambulance handover delays initially looked to have improved in November compared to last winter, the situation seems to have deteriorated coming into December with a significant rise in handovers delayed for more than 30 minutes.

This is putting pressure on both the ability of ambulances to respond in the community and acute trusts battling patient flow issues while needing to admit patients into their emergency departments.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and emergency care leader Sarah-Jane Marsh were also on the call to outline new protocols for long handover delays, Health Service Journal reported.

A source close to the Health Secretary said they were told ‘in no uncertain terms’ that their performance not acceptable and they would be closely monitored this winter.

The source said: ‘The Secretary of State made it abundantly clear to senior management that they should buck up their ideas this winter.

‘The managers accepted they had all the resource they needed from the department and NHSE but were not hitting their targets and failing their local communities.

‘It is frankly, not fair that patients in these areas are facing the longest delays due to poor management – whether that is stuck on an ambulance, sat in A&E or waiting to be discharged from the wards to go home for Christmas.’

Heart attack and stroke patients, known as category two callers, had to wait an average of 38 minutes and 30 seconds for paramedics to arrive on the scene in November.

This is three minutes faster than October but still more than twice as long as the 18 minute target. 

The average category one response time — calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries — was 8 minutes and 32 seconds. This is eight seconds faster than the previous month. However, the target time is seven minutes.

Meanwhile, weekly NHS data shows that one in three patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals last week waited more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E.

There were 28,498 delays of half an hour or longer recorded across all hospital trusts in the week to December 10, equating to 34 per cent of all handovers.

The figure is up from 25 per cent in a week.

NHS rules set out that the process should be completed within 15 minutes and that none should last more than one hour. 

Long handover delays can see ambulances stuck in queues outside hospitals for hours, instead of responding to incoming calls.

Rishi Sunak has said the Government will ‘keep a close eye’ on ambulance delays this winter.