Lincolnshire patients are waiting too long for ambulances says Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board
People are waiting “too long” for ambulances, health bosses have said, as Lincolnshire is put into a “difficult position”.
Chief Executive John Turner was speaking at the final Annual Public Meeting of the Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which has now become the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board, on Monday.
He told the group: “Where we are today in Lincolnshire, it’s fair to say it’s in a difficult position in relation to [urgent and emergency care, ambulance handovers, A&E waits and discharge].
“Another way frankly, is that too many people in Lincolnshire are waiting too long for an ambulance, they’re waiting too long in A&E and they’re waiting too long for their urgent care, and too many patients are in hospital who are ready to be discharged home.
“This is our number one immediate operational priority and the vast amount of work going on day in day out in relation to this.”
Other challenges faced as the health authorities hand over to each other included health inequalities across the county, the organisation’s financial position and workforce issues.
Mr Turner warned that bosses anticipated a “very difficult winter for the NHS and social care”.
However, he said good progress was being made in other areas such as cancer care, elective operations and GP services.
In electoral operations, for instance, he said there was “nobody waiting more more than 104 weeks”.
“We’re now pushing on really hard towards the next target of nobody waiting longer than 78 weeks for their their care.
“Lincolnshire is in a strong position in relation to that but it just shows how much work we’ve got ahead of us when we’re talking about having made good progress in terms of nobody waiting more than two years for their care.”
Mr Turner also used the meeting to praise the “huge team efforts” of the health services in Lincolnshire during the pandemic including the rollout of the vaccination programme.
The first meeting of the Integrated Care Board, which has taken over from the Lincolnshire CCG, meets virtually on Tuesday morning, while the Integrated Care Partnership will meet at Lincolnshire County Council in the afternoon.
